#diana wynne

[roskirambles]

(Archive) Animated movie of the day: Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro, 2004)

Originally posted: January 7th, 2023 When adapting a book to the realm of cinema, the beauty of the work is often lost in translation: Missing characters, trimmed down side plots or simply a compact interpretation of the plot that loses all and any impact. In other cases, however, it's this compromise what lets the film find it's own unique beauty, and with a bit of luck one as powerful as the source material.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and loosely based on the eponymous 1986 novel by Diana Wynne Jones(the first in the Wizard's Castle series), it tells the tale of homely hat maker Sophie Hatter, who gets cursed by the Witch of the Waste to become an old woman. In order to break the curse, she sets to find Howl the Wizard who travels across the land in a magic castle with the power to walk like a living creature. Adventure, self discovery and romance ensue.

And the similarities between the two stories kind of end there, as the film is in many ways nothing like the book. While some plots are missing and characters altered, the most notorious change has to be the war: a mere backdrop of the novel that was nothing but a few short sentences takes now a heavy spotlight that dramatically alters the thematic core of the story.

All of this would be a cardinal sin for most adaptations, a sentiment shared by some of the book fans. But I already presented my stance here: the beauty of this film comes from said differences. While the novel's critique of gender roles takes a back seat, a woman's self affirmation isn't a contradiction to this, nor is it the critique of war to the novel's exploration of social class, or the appeal for love and selflessness.

Even with its admittedly odd pacing, the romanticism is still enveloping, not hurt in the slightest by its jaw dropping visuals and Joe Hisaishi's melancholic yet uplifting score. Not for nothing it's Miyazaki's personal favorite: a film about why life is worth living.

I don't think I need to introduce this music piece to anyone, but the main theme of the film Merry-Go-Round is probably Joe Hisaishi's finest work and given his body of work that's a monumentally tall order. Capable of evoking a sense of nostalgia and longing for a place and era that don't even exist, it still manages to capture a wonderous sense of love and hope for the future. A seemingly impossible contradiction in musical form, it's waltz foundation is a delight to the ears.

And in case you're wondering… Diana Wynne Jones loved the movie, so any purism about her intentions being mangled or else seems trite.

[ajaxgb]

Okay no I need to talk about the book version of Howl's Moving Castle. I love the movie but the book has such a different vibe and you, yes you, should read it.

Movie Howl is a soulful and quiet. Book Howl is a drama queen and Causing Problems and has a long string of jilted exes and couldn't shut up if you paid him.

Sophie and Howl drive each other up the wall at the beginning and it's really funny. Sophie and Howl are (despite themselves) very much in love by the end and they still drive each other up the wall and it's even funnier.

In the movie, Howl has been ordered by the king to participate in The War, and Howl is avoiding it because he is a brave conscientious objector. In the book, Howl has been ordered by the king to rescue his lost brother from the Witch of the Wastes, and Howl is avoiding it by any means necessary because he is a cowardly weasel who wants to stay as far from the Witch as possible.

In the movie, the Witch cursed Sophie because she was jealous about Howl speaking to Sophie for five minutes. In the book, the Witch cursed Sophie because Sophie had been doing surprisingly powerful magic for years without knowing it and it was actually starting to cut into the Witch's plans. (Sophie does not discover any of this until nearly the end of the book, but the reader can start to pick it up much earlier and the way Sophie's magic works is pretty darn cool.)

In the movie, there's a rumor that Howl eats the hearts of maidens, but this is implied to be nothing but nasty fearmongering. In the book, there's a rumor that Howl eats the hearts of maidens because Howl started the rumor so people would stop asking him to do wizard junk all the time.

The book lightly parodies a couple of tropes from Western fairy tales. In particular Sophie has internalized that, as the eldest of three sisters, her "destiny" is to fail so that her younger sisters will look cooler when they succeed, which is why she's so resigned to the hat shop at the beginning. (Sidebar: Sophie's sisters come up much more in the book and they're great.) There's also a really funny bit where Sophie attempts to operate a pair of seven-league boots.

In the movie, the fourth and final location that the magic door connects to is some sort of black void / mindscape / time portal dealy. In the book the fourth location is Wales, in the UK, on Earth, so that Howl can visit his family, because from Howl's perspective this is an isekai story.

[wondereads]

Since it’s Nov 5th, I would just like to say that Diana Wynne Jones wrote a whole book about a world that had fucked up its projected path and had become a hellscape of modern witch trials and when they finally find out what went wrong it’s because Guy Fawkes actually blew up the Parliament instead of failing and it was such a big explosion that it introduced magic to the world and made everyone deathly afraid of it. Anyway

[nadiajustbe]

One of my favorite parts about the writing of Howl's Moving Castle is how easy it is to write off all the things from our world at first as him just being a weird wizard™ (also thanks to bestie @jutenium for spotting this I wouldn't put it like that without you!!/pos). Sure, Sophie uses weird descriptions, but readers have every reason to believe them because of the way Howl is presented as a character. When Sophie says he wrote with a quill that doesn't need an ink, you wouldn't think it was actually a ballpoint pen, you would think Howl had just enchanted his quill so that it wouldn't need ink! When she adds that she can't make out a single word, you think he has matchingly terrible handwriting, but in fact Sophie has simply never seen a pen writing. When she sees the mysterious labels on his books, you think he's keeping a lot of obscure magical literature, but it's really just an encyclopedia and a guide like "Top 10 Rugby Tips." When Sophie notices the bottles in Howl's bathtub, you think they're some kind of magical jars where he keeps girl's hearts, but I'm almost certain that they're just 'Dove' and 'Head and Shoulders' that he's enhanced with his spells and put silly labels on. When you read Calicifer singing a song in a language Sophie doesn't understand, you think it's some kind of ancient cipher or code, but it's actually just a rugby song in Welsh that Howl sings when he's drunk. And finally, when you see the terrifying black door, which is completely shrouded in darkness, you imagine a passage to an eerie, mythical place, similar to what Miyazaki showed us - but it's just fucking Wales.

[shebsart]

^redraw of a behind the scenes pic from a bout de souffle

This doesn't happen on page because it's a childrens book but I know in my heart it happened.

and probably some former english major student somewhere recalling howell jenkins, circa 1980:

[uovoc]

Knowing that Howl went "Fuck finishing this PhD, I'm ditching this universe to go chase girls, consort with demons, and live my wizard ladykiller dreams, while owning my own home at age 27" makes him much more understandable as a character

[konvoluted]

Interview with Diana Wynne Jones

[minimuii]

But what if … the movie adaption was more faithful to the book 🤔🤔?

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I never knew this!

[ramshacklefey]

I've seen increasing buzz around here about Howl's Moving Castle (book). I think you all deserve to know that all of Diana Wynne Jones's books are filled with characters and plots that are absolutely as delightful and unhinged as that one.

Some Actual Plots include:

Dogsbody - The star Sirius is accused of murder and sentenced to exile on Earth in the body of a dog until he finds a magical item called a Zoi. He's adopted by a young Irish girl living with her abusive and neglectful English relatives. He has to balance his desire to find the Zoi with needing to be a Good Dog for the girl who takes care of him. Also the Wild Hunt is there. Hexwood - A girl finds a magical wood behind her house where she meets a wizard who thinks he's a convict of the intergalactic government, a boy created by the man to destroy said government, and a robot found in a junk heap. The magic wood is actually an alternate reality being generated by an AI who has a grudge to settle with the head of said government. The book is about abuse, PTSD, and trauma. The Dark Lord of Derkholm - Magical world is being destroyed by a company using it as an isekai amusement park for people from another dimension. Bio-wizard is appointed Dark Lord for the year, and he and his family (four of whom are bioengineered griffins) have to find a way to survive the season while everything is going wrong. Deep Secret - Interdimensional detective/diplomat/wizard needs to find a replacement for his deceased mentor. He does so at a fantasy convention, while trying to keep an interdimensional empire from collapsing into civil war after the emperor is assassinated along with all of his heirs.

She's an absolute master at weaving fantasy elements into the mundane world and writing from the PoV of kids. Her books are funny, clever, and full of delightful characters. I'm begging you all to check them out.

[antigonick]

It was odd. As a girl, Sophie would have shriveled with embarrassment at the way she was behaving. As an old woman, she did not mind what she did or said. She found that a great relief.

—Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle

[bookstofilms]

“I think we ought to live happily ever after," and she thought he meant it. Sophie knew that living happily ever after with Howl would be a good deal more hair-raising than any storybook made it sound, though she was determined to try.

Howl's Moving Castle dir. Hayao Miyazaki | 2004

Adapted from the novel Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

[svrt-degraded]

Cover for "Howl's Moving Castle" 🕸🕷💙💜✨ I'm in love with this book and it's characters, so I decided to draw my own version of cover art :)

[therabbitthatpostthings]

I will never relate to a character harder than I do Howl Jenkins-Pendragon.

He had a choice: Give your heart to a Fire Demon and live in an ever moving castle as you are being hunted by a vicious witch who wishes to consume you

OR

Pay back your student loans

And he chose the former. So real of him. I would done the same, no second thoughts.

[shebsart]

Im sick with flu so naturally I picked up my newly bought copy of Howl's Moving Castle which includes DWJ interviews in the back.

And im in love with the way she tells these stories feels like a part of her books.

And my favorite:

The magic in the mundane :)

edit: I'm copying the ID by @princess-of-purple-prose below, thank you!

[ID: Excerpts of printed text which read:

I suppose there's also a biographical element in that Sophie is the eldest of three sisters, and so am I. The idea for Sophie grew out of the time I discovered I had a very severe milk allergy. I almost lost the use of my legs and had to walk with the aid of a stick. I was moderately young, but because of this I suddenly became old.

I had to wait until I knew what Wizard Howl was like. I began to discover Howl about the time when one of my sons took to spending several hours in the bathroom every morning and I got really, really, really annoyed with him.

Where were you when you wrote it? I wrote the book the way I write everything, stretched out on the big sofa in my sitting room, in everyone's way. This often annoys my husband rather a lot.

which made me burst out laughing. I laughed and laughed at the seven league boot, and when I came to the bit where Sophie accidentally makes Howl's suit twenty times too big for him, I laughed so much that I fell off the sofa. My husband was really irritated by this time. He snapped, "You can't be making yourself laugh!" And I gasped, "But I am, I am!" and rolled about on the floor.

Are any of your relatives or friends included in the book? Yes, well the thing that started me off writing the book was a friend of mine who never does her laundry. She has it around the place in huge bags for often as much as a year. When she does tip it all out and try to wash it, she discovers all sorts of clothes that she has forgotten she had.

Which is your favourite part of the book and why? I like the book all over, but I suppose if I had to choose a bit, I'd choose the place where Howl gets a cold. It so happened that when I was writing this bit, my husband caught a bad cold. He is the world's most histrionic cold catcher. He moans, he coughs, he piles on the pathos, he makes strange noises, he blows his nose exactly like a bassoon in a tunnel, he demands bacon sandwiches at all hours, and he is liable to appear (usually wrapped in someone else's dressing gown) at any time, announcing that he is dying of neglect and boredom. So all I had to do was write it down. End ID]

[ace-artemis-fanartist]

The Hatter sisters from the book Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.