Review of Howl's Moving Castle (2004) by Icivindur — 20 Feb 2021

"My dear Lucy... girls grow quicker than books... you are already too old for fairy tales... but some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again" wrote C.S. Lewis in the foreword to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

Apparently, a similar growing up overtook me. I had a strange attitude towards Miyazaki - on the one hand, I've watched and highly appreciate almost all of Ghibli's movies, which were not filmed by Miyazaki, but on the other hand, this were his movies, except for "The Wind Rises", which I did not ever bother watch completely.

The same applies to the "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away", which I began to watch several times, and was utterly bored somewhere in the middle. It's funny, but something unlikely brought me back to both films - the mythological symbolism in the pattern of interaction between masculine and feminine principles and proper representation of a female archetype in Miyazaki's movies.

Indeed, what Miyazaki was filming are true fairy tales with the structure and symbolism of myths. Both "Castle" and "Spirited Away" tell about becoming feminine, about the transformation of girls into young women, their interaction with "monsters" - a male archetype embodied in one case in a shapeshifter-wizard, gradually forgetting himself and losing his humanity; in another case, in a shapeshifting river dragon, who has forgotten his name.

Both beauties must first find their femininity in order to free the "monsters" (from the deal with the demon / evil sorceress), return them to normal from the borderline, awaken them as men.

The heroines of these Miyazaki movies are the embodiment of femininity. They find their true strength and splendor through acceptance of their femininity, rather then through denial of femininity and imitation of men.

They self-actualize through acceptance of their nature and following the greater good, not through self-denial and mimesis of men like Rene Girard would probably say and as it is customary to portray lately through the trope of a "strong independent woman", which is in the essence is epitome of self-denial and radical form of misogyny.

Such self-denial and mimesis could only lead to conflict, scapegoating and destruction. Not so in the "Castle". The masculine and feminine are embodied here in a proper way, acquire completeness and integrity, creating harmony and the feeling of a fairy tale.

Traditionally for Ghibli, the story is implemented through gorgeous animation and beautiful music, woven into the atmosphere of this fairy tale, which can absorb and hold your attention for two hours if you are still young enough or already old enough to love fairy tales.