Howl's Moving Castle

[tex-chan]

my answer:

sophie not only loves howl, but she is a very passionate character in general, there is a goodness in her that grows and shows through. it slowly... and inevitably penetrates the spell cast against her. sophie learns to be true to herself and the importance of that. i beleive it was miyazaki's way of showing the depth to her character, and how she overcame more than just a spell. that is my interpretation, at least.

This was my interpretation, too.

Also:

In the book, Sophie has the key to breaking her spell on her own. Howl tries to break it for her a few times, but he is unable to, which leads him to conclude Sophie enjoys "being in disguise" ... which I took to be his way of saying she was hiding out from her true self. So, I think the switching back and forth that happens in the movie is also Miyazaki's way of handling this plot device from the book -- how he shows that it is within Sophie's power to break her spell, and, thus, change her life. So, whenever she is passionate or when she is thinking of Howl or struggling to help him, she is less focused on herself, so that the spell slips and her "true" self comes through. I think this is why she has silver hair at the end of the movie, even though the spell is broken -- because she has gone through some life-changing moments, and she is not the same character as when the movie began. The timid, shy girl from the beginning of the movie is gone, replaced by a new, lovely, confident Sophie. To me, it's kind of like an ugly duckling sort of thing ... if that makes any sense ...

But ... this was just my take on it.

[hobbywhelmed]

Well, I just saw this last night (on my laptop, while cleaning a basement, so I definitely have to see it again!). I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Miyazaki's characters' faces tend to be kind of - bland, so I was suprised at Howl's bishyness! It's the old faces that mostly have the most detail and character in his movies.

I'm coming in on this pretty late, but I guess I'll stick things in the spoiler box anyway (it's a chance to try it out too).

I noticed the spell on Sophie weakened whenever she forgot herself. Got the feeling in the beginning that she thought of herself as kind of dull, "old-spirited" - she adapted pretty easily to being old, and there's a comment that her looks now matched her clothes. It was only when she lost her self-consciousness, so to speak, in the heat of the moment (yelling at Soluman (sp?)) or worrying/caring about someone (when Howl came back as the bird), that the spell weakened. So the spell must have been something that made her inner self bcome external.

With regard to the scarecrow's attitude at the end:

They used the phrase 'true love', but it was actually like a selfless love on both their parts. The scarecrow/prince took a liking to her when she was to all appearance an old woman, and she cared for something that was a turnip-head, a veg she said she disliked the most. I think the point they were making here was in the nature of their affections - In the cases of both Salumon (again, sp?) and the Witch of the Waste, their "love" was totally selfish and controlling and possessive, in contrast to Sophie, and even Howl, who prepared that place for the others to survive even when he didn't expect to. The prince also showed himself capable of the kind of love that wanted to help the object of love, not own it. Howl himself, early on, was tainted by that kind of selfish, appearance-based relating to people - he even chose to look somewhat like Salumon's blond cookie-cutter pages, and the Witch of the Waste was adamant about only liking young, handsome men. I think the point was about "true" affection vs. superficial, honest caring vs. caring only for the people you can manipulate or control. Anyway, that's my take.

[Lynxa]

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I just watched this today and I am SO IN LOVE with it!!!! What a beautiful story! I HAVE to go read the book now! I spent almost the whole time bawling like an idiot

Miyazaki's characters' faces tend to be kind of - bland, so I was suprised at Howl's bishyness!

Actually my dislike of his style is why I've waited so long to watch any of his work. I happened to catch Spirited Away on the Cartoon Network and figured anyone that could make me love a dub and be so insanely whimsical was worth a chance. But Howl's Moving Castle BLEW ME AWAY!!!

And yes, Howl is a total babe.

[duotrouble]

But Howl's Moving Castle BLEW ME AWAY!!!

And yes, Howl is a total babe.

I agree completely! I howl for Howl!

I'm not a big Miyazaki fan. Actually, I wouldn't call myself a fan at all. But I do absolutely LOVE Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. I really love too how he gave Howl 3 hair colors. He's such an interesting character.

[hobbywhelmed]

Well, since Howl's Moving Castle has hit cable, I've seen it about 10 times! Mostly in the english version, although they have been showing the subtitled version a couple of times too.

I noticed that Sophie isn't the only one drawn as "changing". It's most evident in the scene where Howl takes Sophie to the fields of flowers - he's done more childlike there - his face is softer, shorter and rounder, and his eyes are much more roundly drawn. There are a couple of spots elsewhere in the movie where his eyes are done that way, such as the initial walking in the air, and the finale, and the morning where he's all chipper and re-creates the castle. But it - and the face change - are most evident as he's getting Sophie to look at the cottage in the fields. As Sophie's "pluck" fails and she regresses into her spell, his eyes change a bit, but then, when he sees the air-ship, notice how his face has matured again, his chin is sharper and his face is longer. The eyes, too, are squarer.

It almost looks like there's a bit of height change, too, but then, as a sworn anime-forgiveness fan, I'm trained to ignore height changes, oversized hands, and other physiologic shifts during the course of a show....