Spirited Away & Howl’s Moving Castle

The films Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle have many similarities with each other.  They are both directed by the same person, are both Japanese films, and are both animated.

Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki

In the beginning of Spirited Away, Chihiro’s parents are turned into pigs for their gluttony. They ate the spirit’s food without knowing to whom it belonged.  Throughout the movie, Chihiro tries to save her parents and get back to her world. (She finds herself in another world, the world of the spirits.  Through hard work, she is able to save her parents.  I have never seen in a movie or read in a book about people turning into pigs. Spirited Away is very colorful.  The sky is very blue and the trees and grass are very green.  In other words, the backgrounds are lush and the colors are gorgeous.  Chihiro, the protagonist, has a helper, Haku.  Haku is a boy who looks to be a few years older than her.  In actuality, he is a river spirit. This means he is a lot older than Chihiro.  In addition, the fact that Chihiro and Haku are love interests is kind of creepy.  On the other hand, Haku looks really young, so in a way, their relationship is not as creepy as it could be.  There is also a villain in the film, Yubaba. Yubaba is a sorceress. Yubaba takes away Chihiro’s name, gives her the name Sen, and gives her a job, which she is to do for eternity.  In a way, Yubaba’s twin sister Zeniba is also a villain because she sent paper birds to attack Haku in his dragon form because he had stolen something from her.  In addition, Zeniba transformed Yubaba’s infant son into a mouse.  I don’t really find either Yubaba or Zeniba to be very convincing villains.  Yubaba doesn’t like Chihiro, but in the end, she gives her her parents back in human form.  Zeniba, on the other hand, is nice to Chihiro, and is very unlike her twin sister.  The fantasy world in Spirited Away is much more interesting than the real world.  In the real world, Chihiro is being told by her parent to come, to not do something, etc.  In addition, there are times when her parents do not pay her much attention. In the fantasy world, however, even though she has to work hard, Chihiro is noticed.  In addition, even though at first, Lin doesn’t like her, later she treats Chihiro with respect. In other words, she learns to care for her.  Haku is always telling Chihiro he’s her friend, but Chihiro and Haku fall in love. 

Howl’s Moving Castle, directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Unlike in Spirited Away, in Howl’s Moving Castle, the protagonist, Sophie, is a young woman not a child.  Sophie describes herself as being not beautiful. In my opinion, she is pretty. On the other hand, she has big eyes, which might be considered by some people, to be unattractive.  In the beginning of Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie is changed into a 90-year-old woman because she stands up to the Witch of the Waste.  I don’t think I know of anyone (in books or movies) being changed into an older person.  In Howl’s Moving Castle, some things are bright in color, while others are dull.  For example, the castle is ugly. (At least, I thought so.) The sky is a bright blue and the grass is a bright green. When we first see Sophie, she is wearing a green dress, but it is a dark green. In my opinion, it was unattractive.   Unlike in Spirited Away, in Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie has more than one helper. She has Howl, the magician, Markl, Howl’s servant boy, Calcifer, the fire demon who serves Howl, and Turnip Head, a scarecrow who is always following Sophie around.  There are also two villains: the Witch of the Waste and Madame Suliman.  The Witch of the Waste becomes less evil when Madame Suliman exposes her true age.  Howl works for Madame Suliman, whom he is afraid of.  I don’t find The Witch of the Waste to be a very convincing villain.  She can’t undo the spell she put on Sophie. When her true age is shown, she becomes a harmless, senile, old lady.  On the other hand, she wants Howl’s heart.

In Spirited Away, there are allusions to The Wizard of Oz.  When the Stink Spirit is given a bath, he melts, just like the Wicked Witch in that story.  Also, the scene where Chihiro is running up the stairs in the bathhouse reminds me of when Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz was running up stairs in the Witch’s castle.  Another allusion I saw was to Cinderella.  Yubaba puts Chihiro to work, just like Cinderella was put to work by her stepmother.  In a way, Lin in Spirited Away is like Cinderella’s evil stepmother, but the difference is that Lin begins to like Chihiro.  In the end of Cinderella, Cinderella gets the prince.  In the end of Spirited Away, Chihiro remembers who Haku was in her past life.  In other words, they have to part from each other at the end, even though they love one another.

Like in Spirited Away, in Howl’s Moving Castle, there are allusions to The Wizard of Oz.  One of Dorothy’s friends in The Wizard of Oz is a scarecrow.  In Howl’s Moving Castle, one of Sophie’s friends is a scarecrow.  However, in Howl’s Moving Castle, the scarecrow turns out to be a missing prince.   Sophie throws water on the Witch of the Waste to stop her from burning when she picks up Calcifer from the dying flames. This is another allusion to The Wizard of Oz. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy poured water on the Wicked Witch and she melted. In Howl’s Moving Castle, though, the Witch of the Waste does not melt.  In Howl’s Moving Castle, there is a scene where Sophie is falling down a hole.  This reminds me of Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, when she fell through the rabbit hole.  Like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle has an allusion to Cinderella. In Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie cleans the castle, which is like Cinderella cleaning the house.  In Howl’s Moving Castle, though, Sophie is not the only servant; Calcifer and Markl also are servants to Howl.  In the end of Cinderella, Cinderella gets the prince.  In the end of Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie and Howl are going to be together because they love each other. Like Chihiro and Haku in Spirited Away, the relationship between Sophie and Howl is creepy.  Howl is young, but Sophie is an old woman.  In the end of Howl’s Moving Castle, the spell on Sophie breaks and she becomes her younger self again.

Both Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle have female protagonists with male helpers.  Both of these films have villains who are female.  Both of these films have a somewhat creepy love story between the protagonist and her helper. Both of these films have allusions to books or films.

Peter Pan & Margaret Ogilvy

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

In J.M.  Barrie’s Peter Pan, the interactions between Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and the Lost Boys and the children (Wendy, Michael, and John) can be described as somewhat hostile.  When Wendy first meets Peter, Peter is crying because he can’t put his shadow back on.  Wendy says to him, “Boy, “ […] “why are you crying?” (20).  To call someone boy, is not very polite. We are told that Wendy says this courteously, but I do not find it courteous.  Wendy knew it was Peter she was talking to, so I believe she should have addressed him as “Peter.”  Later, Wendy asks where Peter lives. He tells her his address, and she says “What a funny address!” (21).  Peter does not find his address funny.  Wendy wrongly believes that Peter was crying because he doesn’t have a mother and wants one. Peter, however, does not have any desire to have a mother. We are told that he thinks they’re overrated.  Later, Wendy chastises Peter for trying to put his shadow on with soap. She tells him he’s dreadfully ignorant, to which he replies that he’s not.  To call someone ignorant is not nice.

 When Peter introduces Wendy to Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell takes an instant dislike to her.  Peter tells Tinkerbell “this lady says she wishes you were her fairy” (25).  The truth of the matter, though, is that Wendy never said that. Peter made it up, which he shouldn’t have done.  Tinkerbell responds by calling Wendy “[…] a great ugly girl […]” (25).  Peter tries to apologize for her, by saying she is not very polite. I don’t think this really excuses Tinkerbell’s behavior.  When Peter kisses Wendy, she suddenly screams.  Tinkerbell was pulling her hair.  Tinkerbell doesn’t like Wendy flirting with Peter. She is jealous of her because he pays attention to her. Tinkerbell thinks she should be the center of Peter’s attention.  She likes Peter, and sees Wendy as a rival for Peter’s affections.

Walt Disney’s Peter Pan

Earlier, when Wendy mentioned to Peter that John despises girls, Peter kicked him out of bed. Wendy didn’t like him doing this, and knew that he was trying to be kind.  How is kicking someone out of bed kind? To kick someone in his or her sleep is not nice. Peter had no reason to do that to John. I don’t care if he was standing up for Wendy; he should not have kicked John out of his bed.  John must be a hard sleeper, because he did not wake up when Peter kicked him.  When Wendy wants Peter to teach her to fly, she wants her brothers John and Michael to also be taught how to fly.  Peter says it would be okay for him to teach Michael and John to fly too.  However, he says he will only teach them to fly if she wants him to.  He doesn’t really want to teach them how to fly.  We know this because we are told that Peter says, “If you like,” (28) indifferently.  This means that he doesn’t care.

Peter then teaches them how to fly. At first, he tells them to think happy thoughts, and those happy thoughts will lift them up in the air.  This does not work.  Peter is just playing with them because the only way to fly is to have fairy dust sprinkled on you.  Peter finally blows some fairy dust on each of them, and now they can fly.  John asks why shouldn’t they all go out.  This is what Peter has been planning on all along.  The four of them fly out the window right before Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Nana come into the nursery.

The children are sleepy, and flying when you’re sleepy is dangerous because you will fall.  Peter finds this funny.  He would wait until the last possible moment to save them.   He is not concerned with saving human lives; he is more interested in his own cleverness. As if this is not bad enough, he is a show off. Peter sleeps in the air without falling, by lying on his back and floating.  In addition, he flies close to the water and touches each shark’s tail that he passes. The children cannot copy this as successfully as he can.  Peter did not teach the children how to stop flying. Because of this, they have to follow him, and cannot find their way back home without him.   Peter should have taught them how to stop flying; it would have been the polite thing to do.   Peter flies faster than them and leaves them alone to have an adventure of his own.  When he comes back, he cannot tell them what he had been doing because he forgets things so quickly.  Sometimes he forgets the children’s names.  This is really irritating for them.

When they get to Neverland, John wants Tinkerbell to put out her light and go to sleep. However, these are the only two things a fairy can’t do.  Tinkerbell pinches John, but not lovingly.  Pinching someone is not a nice thing to do.  Wendy carries Tinkerbell in John’s hat, which Tinkerbell hates. Tinkerbell would have wanted to be carried by Peter.  Tinkerbell suddenly decides to lure Wendy to her destruction.  She wants her to follow her, which she does.  Wendy is unaware of how much Tinkerbell hates her.  Tinkerbell goes to the Lost Boys and tells them that Peter wants them to shoot the Wendy. This is not true, however. The Lost Boys never question Peter’s orders, and so they get their weapons. One of them shoots Wendy with an arrow.  The Lost Boys think Wendy is a bird.  They can hear the “bird” say ‘Poor Wendy.’” (52).  If they knew anything about birds, they would know that birds do not speak English.  Wendy is not a bird; she is a girl.  The Lost Boys soon realize that Wendy is not a bird, and they feel remorse for shooting her.  When everyone finds out that Wendy is alive, Tinkerbell is discovered crying. She is crying because Wendy lived.  Because of her crime, Tinkerbell is banished from Peter for a week.  This does not seem like a worthy punishment to me. Peter wanted her punishment to last forever, but Wendy raises her arm, which causes Peter to relent.  Tinkerbell had tried to kill Wendy!  Peter should not forgive her for what she did, but he does.  When Michael and John show up, Peter and the Lost Boys are building a house for Wendy.  Peter wants them to help build the house for Wendy, but John says “Why, she is only a girl!” (58).  John should not speak of his sister that way— it is sexist and misogynistic.  He is of the opinion that girls are inferior to boys.  One of the Lost Boys explains to him that because Wendy is a girl, that is why they are her servants.  This shocks John; he does not believe Wendy needs to have servants. He certainly, does not want to be her servant.  Nonetheless, he and Michael are forced to help build the house for Wendy.

Near the end of the book, Peter frees Wendy, tells her to hide herself with the others, and disguises himself as her.  The pirate Captain Hook, Peter’s nemesis, says, “No, lads, no, it’s the girl. Never was luck on a pirate ship wi’ a woman on board. We’ll right the ship when she’s gone” (129).  This is a common saying of pirates. Many pirates were superstitious, and thought that having a woman on board was bad luck.  Just before “Wendy” is about to be flung overboard, Peter reveals himself.  Peter eventually gets rid of Captain Hook by feeding him to the crocodile, whom Peter had already fed Captain Hook’s right arm to.

When Wendy, Michael, and John fly home, Peter contemplates closing the window so that Wendy will have to go back with him.  This is a terrible plan! Wendy and her brothers want to go home because they miss it. They miss their parents and Nana (their housekeeper dog).  Peter finally opens the window and flies away.  To keep someone away from his or her family is wrong.  Nobody should do that to a child.  Wendy is allowed to go to Neverland every spring to do Peter’s spring-cleaning. He comes the first year, but forgets the next. He finally comes back to her, but she is a married woman with a daughter. In other words, she has grown up. Peter does not notice this at first.  Peter mistakes Jane for Wendy’s younger brother Michael.  When Peter sees Wendy, he lets out a cry of pain. He is upset that Wendy aged because she promised not to.  Peter starts crying, and his sobs wake up Jane, just like they woke up Wendy in the beginning of the book.  Jane asks Peter “Boy,” […] “why are you crying?” (152), the exact same words Wendy uttered in the beginning of the book.  Jane wants to fly with Peter to Neverland to do his spring-cleaning. At first, Wendy does not allow this, but eventually, she changes her mind.  Jane grows up and has a daughter named Margaret; every spring-cleaning time Peter comes for Margaret (except when he forgets to come) and takes her to Neverland to do his spring-cleaning.  Basically, the cycle will continue—Margaret will grow up and have a daughter, who will take on the role of Peter’s mother, and so on and so forth.

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan has characters who are disrespectful, even naughty. Peter is immature, cocky, conceited, and a show off. Tinkerbell hates Wendy, and is extremely jealous of her. (She even tries to have her killed.) Wendy’s brother John dislikes girls, even his sister.  The Lost Boys do whatever Peter asks without questioning it; they trust Tinkerbell when she tells them to shoot Wendy on Peter’s orders. Captain Hook and the rest of the pirates are just rude because they are pirates, and are typically not known to be nice people.

Margaret Ogilvy by J.M. Barrie

In J. M. Barrie’s memoir of his mother Margaret Ogilvy, it is intimated that he and his mother have a strange relationship with each other.   It is more like he is the parent, and she is the child.  The first chapter of the memoir is called  “How My Mother Got Her Soft Face.”  While this may seem like a nice thing for someone to say about their mother, it is not presented in a positive way. One would think that he is telling the reader that his mother has good skin, but this is not what he means by her “soft face.”  What he means by her “soft face,” is that his mother is depressed.  J.M. Barrie doesn’t tell us what happened, but he hints at a death in the family. His older brother died, and he was the favorite child of his mother.  The death of her first child, led to how she got her “soft face.” Her “soft face” is the face of grief.

J.M. Barrie seemed to have taken on the role of keeping his mother alive, for the purpose that he would have a mother. Everyone needs a mother, although Peter Pan,  J.M. Barrie’s fictional character, would disagree.   In addition, Barrie was supposed to have taken the place of the boy who died. He tries really hard to do this. I don’t think he should have tried to be someone he was not.  I understand that he was just trying to remind his mother that she has another son. In addition, it was Barrie’s sister who told him to pretend to be the dead son.  I believe that everyone should be themselves, no matter what their circumstances.  Obviously, the child who died was never going to grow up.  In a way, you could say that he is Peter Pan.  On the other hand, because James Barrie had to replace his brother, he was also never able to grow up.  (Actually, he became an adult, but he was immature.) In a way, he is also Peter Pan, the boy who does not want to grow up.

Because of the trauma in his life, something was arrested.  He was not able to have a normal childhood because he had to care for his mother, and at the same time be a child.  This caused him to be prematurely old and eternally young at the same time.  James Barrie’s mother did not have the childhood she wanted, so she was asking him for what she didn’t have.  If there was something in your life that was either taken away or unfulfilled, you keep looking for it.  In other words, the traumas of the mother were being lived by the child.  James Barrie was living so much in his mother’s mind that it was hard for him to grow up.

James Barrie had a strange relationship with his mother. His job was to keep her alive.  After her favorite son’s death, she became ill and was depressed. The “soft face” signified her grief at the loss of her son.