#I saw a post that summarises it as “Ghibli characters are all perfect and all DWJ characters are just little shits”

[nadiajustbe]

I will never shut up about the difference between movie HMC and book HMC fanbase — not because one is better than another, obviously, I'm saying this with zero hatred in my heart, it's just the way audience processes characters shows crystal clear what this pieces of media value and how different this values are.

Movie HMC characters, are similar to all Ghibli characters, more or less idealistic. They have their faults, right, but the whole story often pushes them through obstacles that makes them better people — human, but almost perfect, with spirits in their hearts and love in their hearts. When movie HMC fans say they love Howl, it means they adore him, they genitally want him to be their ""idol"", they want to be him or to be with him because of how perfect (and, because of that rather blunt) he is closer to the end of the movie.

Diana Wynne Jones wrote about people with flaws, people who learn to be flawed, people who come to appreciate their flaws and accept it, in this book especially. Wich is, funnily enough, almost entirely different from what Miyazaki wanted to see in the story. When book HMC fans say we love Howl, we mean he's a jerk. He's an idiot. He's a womaniser. He's slither-outer. He reject all responsibilities and never, ever changes even one percent as much as his movie counterpart does. And we love him, not despite it, not even because of it, but with it. Sure, saying he didn't learn anything would be a lie — he learned to love properly, he took another look at his values, he built a family and had to face responsibilitiies he wouldn't face at any other circumstances. What I'm saying, is he never changed to the exact of rebuilding his character enough for him to become a "better person". He's still a jerk. Still an idiot. Still slither-outer. Still rejects all responsibilities. Still doesn't change much. And we still love him.

When hmc movie fans see romantic and idealistic, hmc books fans see imperfect and flawled.