The opening scene of any movie sets its tone. In Howl’s Moving Castle, when the titular wizard Howl whisks Sophie, a plain commoner, away from the assault of both men and beasts alike, the audience understands what this film will be. Though set in a magical and mechanical future where wizards and witches coexist with a Victorian backdrop as well as classic Steampunk iconography, Howl’s Moving Castle is a movie that isn’t about any of those material things. Rather, it is a touching story about human qualities, like love and friendships, commitment and betrayal, jealousy and obsession, all through the lenses and perspectives of the young and the old, the privileged and the downtrodden. All of this is done through the plot devices provided by
…show more content…
Because of this, Sophie, as an old woman, cannot tell her new friends about her curse, though later Howl does deduce this by himself. As a result of this inability to communicate such an issue about herself however, Sophie and her relationships with her friends suffered somewhat as a result of this miscommunication (Miller, 2012, p. 166). On the other hand, self-disclosure about things that we keep secret tends to increase the strength and closeness of a relationship (Miller, 2012, p. 160). This is seen later in the film when Howl reveals to Sophie the reason why he and Calcifer are mortally bonded together. This act of self-disclosure, as well as other acts of reciprocating self-disclosure by Sophie, grew their relationship from a casual friendship to something …show more content…
The Witch of the Waste, the woman who curses Sophie to be old, does that in pure jealousy over the perceived relationship that Sophie and Howl had. This is because Howl had left a relationship he had with the Witch when she became less beautiful, thus breaking her heart and making her go on a lengthy quest to obtain Howl’s literal heart for herself. These actions are that of a jealous lover, one that feels immense reactive jealousy towards threats to her love interest by Sophie in particular (Miller, 2012, p. 313). But this movie is a happy movie, so naturally, Sophie ultimately learns to forgive the witch. This happens in the final act of the film, after the Witch had been stripped of her magicks and turned into a regular old woman, much like Sophie. After this had occurred to the Witch, Sophie takes pity on her and rescues her from Suliman as well as houses her in the castle. However, when the Witch finally found Howl’s heart, she, with reluctance, gives it up to Sophie as a final act of mutual forgiveness, as at that point, both had understood both their feelings of betrayal as well as why they did the things they did in response to those feelings (namely, in love of Howl), as well as they both gave up their act of retribution (Miller, 2012, p. 332). By completing those tasks, the Witch and Sophie forgave each other and instead, bonded together to help defend what they
Because of this, Sophie, as an old woman, cannot tell her new friends about her curse, though later Howl does deduce this by himself. As a result of this inability to communicate such an issue about herself however, Sophie and her relationships with her friends suffered somewhat as a result of this miscommunication (Miller, 2012, p. 166). On the other hand, self-disclosure about things that we keep secret tends to increase the strength and closeness of a relationship (Miller, 2012, p. 160). This is seen later in the film when Howl reveals to Sophie the reason why he and Calcifer are mortally bonded together. This act of self-disclosure, as well as other acts of reciprocating self-disclosure by Sophie, grew their relationship from a casual friendship to something …show more content…
The Witch of the Waste, the woman who curses Sophie to be old, does that in pure jealousy over the perceived relationship that Sophie and Howl had. This is because Howl had left a relationship he had with the Witch when she became less beautiful, thus breaking her heart and making her go on a lengthy quest to obtain Howl’s literal heart for herself. These actions are that of a jealous lover, one that feels immense reactive jealousy towards threats to her love interest by Sophie in particular (Miller, 2012, p. 313). But this movie is a happy movie, so naturally, Sophie ultimately learns to forgive the witch. This happens in the final act of the film, after the Witch had been stripped of her magicks and turned into a regular old woman, much like Sophie. After this had occurred to the Witch, Sophie takes pity on her and rescues her from Suliman as well as houses her in the castle. However, when the Witch finally found Howl’s heart, she, with reluctance, gives it up to Sophie as a final act of mutual forgiveness, as at that point, both had understood both their feelings of betrayal as well as why they did the things they did in response to those feelings (namely, in love of Howl), as well as they both gave up their act of retribution (Miller, 2012, p. 332). By completing those tasks, the Witch and Sophie forgave each other and instead, bonded together to help defend what they