#i've actually had this one on the back burner for a while bc i couldn't figure out the end

[the-algebra-thing]

ok so if you couldn't tell I'm rewatching the howl's moving castle movie bc I want to be reading the book but I have crafts to work through for decorations for my friends bridal shower in two days. so I haven't got past chapter 5 in my reread but I put on the movie—in subtitles, which I've never done before, bc it was all I could find for free—and I am just a little mind boggled. firstly I didn't realize how staunchly on the side of the book I had become despite loving this movie so much for so many years, and secondly . I'm feeling. I don't know.

like I don't want to cry misogyny but it feels kinda shitty that while the book was about secrets and truth and selflessness and knowing yourself and trusting yourself and all that shit right, because. in the book sophie's image of herself as incapable and unworthy has little to do with her looks and a lot to do with her birth and her responsibilities and what she sees as her lot in life. and howl's image of himself as capable and worthy and beautiful and a lady-killer is part of a web of lies he layers on top of one another to keep himself from being afraid, which ends up leaving his conscience wrapped up in countless layers and barely visible to the naked eye. and eventually sophie learns she has innate magical power, embraces this and strikes out on her own, and comes to love howl in spite of what she tells herself is supposed to happen to her. and all of howls lies eventually run themselves out, and at the end of the book he's stripped of his defenses and has to learn to stand in one place and take what comes anyways. and he comes to love sophie without even thinking much about it, without his beauty spells at all.

in the movie howl is still a self obsessed freak but his Heart Of Gold is put on display immediately, and sophie's self-worth issues are displayed almost exclusively in her bitterness at not being beautiful while her unshrinking personality that's supposed to show itself when she gets spelled is completely back burnered. she has very little presence compared to the captivating and hilarious personality she has to offer in jones' book. in the movie she's very anxious following the transformation, instead of it registering mostly as the weight of the life she had assigned herself off her shoulders, and the complexity of her motivations that you experience through the internal monologue in the book is almost completely flattened into aw man . I sure wish I was beautiful. this is really scary that there's a spell on me. her bold temperament is displayed as somewhat of a second thought, while we get to watch howl be full of righteous indignation and tired wisdom at the state of the warring world outside. to be fair I'm only halfway through the movie but in terms of the books contents we're actually right where I left off in chapter five out of twenty one, and jones had no trouble at all establishing a really good framework for all that I've described by then. I'm so much more disappointed than I expected to be goddamn

#in unfathomable detail #howl's moving castle #howls moving castle #diana wynne jones

[amatalefay]

Hades is king / Zeus and his pantheon of kin Of oil and coal / Take the first nine out of every ten And the riches that flow / Minas like lightning changing hands Where those rivers are found / It all returns back to his pockets in the end

(Come Home With Me/Soldier, Poet, King | more audio edits)

#hadestown #the oh hellos #epic ii #eurus #music #my audio edits #this song just exudes hadestown energy okay #i've actually had this one on the back burner for a while bc i couldn't figure out the end #and whether i should go into chant or not