While Sophie believes that story has the power to shape her life, in fact it is Sophie who has the power to tell stories that shape the lives of others. Though the narrator does not come out and say it directly, astute readers will quickly pick up on the fact that Sophie's predictions turn out to be true for the women who buy and wear her hats. Sophie of the book is wont to talk to the hats as she trims them, spinning stories about their own futures: "You have mysterious allure" "You are going to have to marry money!" "You have a heart of gold and someone in a high position will see it and fall in love with you" (7). Before moving to that section of the story, though, I want to discuss two significant differences between film and book that occur before Sophie's transformation. The bulk of both versions take place after the Witch of the Waste comes to Sophie's hat shop and, for reasons only hinted at, lays a curse on her, a curse that makes her appear to be an old woman rather than a seventeen-year-old adolescent. Even while we're encouraged to chuckle at Sophie, we're also invited to think more deeply about the ways that story-in the form of social and gender conventions-can and do shape us, often despite our own better judgment. But DWJ is a sneaky writer, with a lot of hidden agendas up her sleeve. With its focus on storytelling rather than feminine self-confidence, the book's opening may appear to be less feminist than the film's. For the reader, the humor lies both in imagining a world where fairy tale tropes determine one's future, and in laughing at a character who buys into the convention, even when the evidence to disprove it is as close as the nose on her face. It was a disappointment to her, but she was still happy enough, looking after her sisters and grooming Martha to seek her fortune when the time came" (1). "She had read a great deal, and very soon realized how little chance she had of an interesting future. Though the book's second paragraph hints that stories are not infallible (though the birth of Sophie's second sister "ought to have made Sophie and Lettie into Ugly Sisters," it had not), Sophie herself misses the hint. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes" (1). "In the land of Ingary," the novel opens, "where such things as seven-league books and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.
Rather, her problem lies in her belief that story has the power to shape destiny. "Do something for yourself for once, will you?" sister Lettie calls to her as Sophie gradually edges away from the busy pastry shop where Lettie works, pointing to Sophie's penchant for self-sacrifice and linking it to her lack of self-esteem.įor Sophie of the novel, looks are not at issue both she and her two sisters "grew up very pretty indeed" (1). Plain, shy, and gray, Sophie is more upset than charmed when two handsome but large and looming male soldiers attempt to flirt with her in the town's streets. Unlike her mother or her sister Lettie, or the other girls in the hat shop where she works, Sophie is not that attractive. In the film version of Howl, Sophie Hatter's problem at story's start is her lack of self-esteem. Such wondering gave me the perfect excuse to indulge in a comfort re-read of Wynne Jones' novel. As I watched the film, I found myself thinking about the differences between it and Jones' novel, and wondering how those differences impacted the feminist messages of each. Interestingly, though, in spite of their differences, both Miyazaki's film and Diana Wynne Jones's novel have been called "feminist" by various writers and critics. Miyazaki is a filmmaker of great imagination, one who does not feel bound to stick slavishly to his original source material when crafting an adaptation. Our film of choice? The 2005 animated Howl's Moving Castle, adapted by Hayao Miyazaki from the 1986 novel by British fantasist Diana Wynne Jones.
Diane wynne jones howls moving castle movie movie#
This past weekend, my daughter and I took some time-out from December's rush to have a mom-kid movie night.