Few
years ago, since I watched Spirited Away,
I have been interested for movies of Hayao Miyazaki. Therefore, I watch all of
his productions including Howl’s Moving
Castle which was released in 2004 and was nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006. It becomes one of
my favorites. When I checked the information online, I found out that there is
an original book published in 1986 by British author Diana Wynne Jones. It’s a
young adult fantasy novel, and won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was named
an ALA Notable Book for both children and young adults.
The books of Diana Wynne Jones are
charming and playful, with meandering plots that resemble a stroll in the
English countryside (plus magic!). The films of Hayao Miyazaki are inventive,
startling, and visionary (plus magic!). You’d think the two wouldn’t mix.
Actually, after viewing the film Howl’s Moving Castle, many people would say
just that–the two don’t mix.
Howl’s Moving Castle is a delightful story. It’s not a familiar fairy tale, but it seems
like one with witches, demons, curses, magic, and wizards all accepted very
matter-of-factly as part of the world. The main characters are flawed enough to
be realistic but not so flawed that they’re not likable. To top it all off, there’s an undertone of
humor and a nicely wrapped up ending.
This is a definite keeper.
Sophie Hatter is the oldest of 3 siblings
living in Market Chipping, the obedient daughter of a hat maker. Her father
died a few years ago and Sophie lives with her stepmother and two sisters
until, due to their dire economic circumstances, her two sisters are sent away
to become apprentices and Sophie stays behind to work at the hat shop. It is a
dull life, but that is the lot of Older Sisters, as you know. Anyways, this one
day, the infamous and evil Witch of the Waste shows up at the shop and after a
puzzling conversation (it is one of the Mysteries to be solved) turns Sophie
into an old lady and part of the curse is that she can’t tell anyone about it.
Sophie takes that as an opportunity to leave the shop and the town and try her
luck in life. She then finds her way to the Moving Castle. Owned by the equally
infamous and evil (or is he?) Wizard Howl, who terrifies young ladies and
steals their hearts, the Castle is this amazing place with a door that opens to
4 different locations (one of them being the Wales of our own world!). At the
Castle, Sophie becomes Howl’s cleaning lady, a position she can only secure
after striking a bargain with the Castle’s resident Fire Demon, Calcifer. The
bargain says that she will help Calcifer break his contract with Howl (the
terms of said contract cannot be disclosed though, which is Another Puzzle that
Sophie needs to put together) and in return he will help her become a young
lady again. Howl is not very happy to have Sophie around, because he regards
her as a busybody who keeps cleaning and moving things around but eventually
they start to get along just fine, and Sophie discovers that there is more to
Howl than she originally thought.
The King orders Howl to find Suliman and
Justin and kill the Witch of the Waste, Howl attempts to weasel out of it by
having Sophie, pretending to be his mother, petition against the appointment—
but to no avail. Instead of blackening Howl's name like he asked Sophie to do,
she gets him appointed the new Royal Wizard, the post he has been trying to
avoid for years.
Sophie was captured by the Witch of the Waste. Howl comes to save
Sophie and defeats the Witch of the Waste. Sophie uses her talent of talking
things to life to break the contract between Howl and Calcifer without killing
either of them. Sophie has been unconsciously retaining the spell on herself,
but her concern for Howl weakens the spell, and with the death of the Witch of
the Waste, who was a significant force behind the spell as well, Calcifer, as
promised, breaks the spell the second she concludes the contract between him
and Howl, and she returns to her proper age.
Finally, Sophie and Howl find out they actually love each, and
they will live together.
Sophie is an Innocent who tries back to young, and
then she finds out her lover. Howl is Magician who can change the world and
against his teacher Ms Suliman for the war. If I use the Monomyth structure for
my reading process, in the beginning, Sophie was caused by the Witch of the
Waste that is The Call to Adventure.
When she enters into the moving castle that is the Crossing of the First Threshold. When Sophie deals with Calcifer,
she works as a clean lady for Howl, in the time they have lived together, it
likes the Road of Trials. And there
are some Woman as Temptress for
Howl. Sophie is not the only charming character; of course, there is also Howl
himself who works wonderfully as a likable yet extremely flawed
character. He’s a charismatic, talented wizard who is also compassionate
with a tendency to undercharge the poor who come to him. At the same time, he’s
also prone to fits of temper, a womanizer, and a very vain man who spends a
couple hours in the bathroom getting ready to go out every morning. And Witch
Howl was an Orphan who lived in his
moving castle and escaped the Witch of the Waste. The fact that he has so many
bad and good qualities makes him such a fleshed out, believable character and
that’s part of what makes him so endearing and memorable. But finally he found
out what he really wants to be and has to face. He is also a warrior who
against evil and the order from power king, he finally helps to stop the
war. He is a super smug man who feels the color of his hair doesn’t well,
so he dyed blonde hair. He wears gorgeous and expensive clothes, and spends at
least one hour to make up in his bathroom every day. He also sprays strongly
perfume, and carries a guitar everyday but doesn’t know how to play. Howl is an
anti-hero. Throughout the book we get Sophie’s unedited opinions on Howl and
his temper, arrogance, mood-swings, and self-centeredness. But there is more
than meets the eye with Wizard Howl. He may not explain his actions, but he is
not a heartless bastard. The banter that Howl has (usually with Sophie) really
shows Diana Wynne Jones’ writing skill—Howl’s Moving Castle
is funny, fun, and fantastical.
Howl’s Moving Castle is perhaps, at
its heart a book about words, or a book that understands the importance of
words. It is present in the clever writing but also in the plot in so many
different ways: with puzzles, with songs, with words that hurt, with words that
save, with curses, with self-inflicted harm that comes from believing in words.
And then eventually, Sophie finds out that words ARE indeed magic.
