The Relationship Between Diana Wynne Jonses' and Miyazaki's Versions of 'Howls Moving Castle' Sophia Bebe Sharpe 11th Grade

Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl's Moving Castle has inspired many audiences with its witty, creative characters yet deep set storyline and messages. Through Miyazaki's adaption of Howl's Moving Castle, a new, equally valuable story has been composed. It is evident of the roles that identity, values, and beliefs play through the two compositions. Both Jones’ and Miyazaki’s work hold distinctive, individualised themes while simultaneously providing their audiences with familiar, recurring morals and content. It could be considered that these differences and similarities are what makes the stories themselves and give significance to both composers’ works respectively.

Personal ideals play a considerable part in creating Jones’ novel, Miyazaki’s adaptation similarly incorporates his own distinctive ethics and beliefs into his work, creating a uniqueness to his piece. Growing up as an ardent pacifist, Miyazaki has embodied major themes of war, machinery and military destruction as a distinctive theme throughout his animation. He explains that his own morals essentially influenced the adaptation, “I do not make films to send out messages of ecology, but because it is part of my values, the problem comes up in my films”. Unlike Jones'...