Howl's Moving Castle

Everyone has to go through obstacles in life. In which, can help find oneself. In the film, Howl’s Moving Castle directed by Hayao Miyazki, it follows a story of a low self-esteem adolescent name Sophie and the mysterious Howl. Sophie has to break through a curse that the Witch of the Waste put on her. The curse made her appearance look like an old, hunched grandma that causes Sophie to leave her family and follow the journey of Howl to break the curse that she is under. On the other hand, Howl has to fight a war against Madame Suliman whom is against Howl’s wizard powers. Over the course of the journey, Sophie and Howl has to go through finding self-acceptance, leaping over obstacles, and having character development. Although I agree with

the idea of the movie being an adventure, fantasy, and romance movie it is important to extend the idea that it can be a coming-of-age movie because the two protagonist of the movie go through the tropes of “I Am Not Pretty,” have to the goal of breaking the “curse,” and have “character development” throughout the movie.
Sophie and Howl had to find self-acceptance through their beauty. Sophie does not have confidence in her beauty. When Howl was showing Sophie his childhood’s cottage, Sophie suspected that Howl was “going away” and beg Howl that she can be of “help even though [she] is not pretty and all I’m good at is cleaning” (Wikiquote). Appearances is a big part in society because people would judge you of how you look and it’s depicted in the movie. Just like any young adolescent, Sophie cares about being beautiful and it’s hard for her to accept her appearance because she feels like she is not worth it. In addition, Howl cares about his appearance. Howl comes out with orange hair and thinks that it’s “hideous” and “see no point in living if [he] can’t be beautiful” (Wikiquote). Just like Sophie, Howl cares about his appearance. Whenever Howl get a new haircut, that suits him, he feels confident in it. Howl sees beauty as a way for him to be confident in his actions. Thus, fits the “I Am Not Pretty” trope. The “I Am Not Pretty trope” states that “Sophie insists she isn't beautiful; through the movie she gains more confidence in herself” (TVTropes). This trope goes with Howl, as well, and how the movie shows that appearance is a big part. It is also connected to coming-of-age because adolescents have to go through an important phase of their life where they start to accept their appearance and know who they truly are. Later on in the film, Sophie and Howl grown to accept their appearance by the cure that they were put under.
Sophie and Howl must break the curse that Sophie was under and Howl had to fight against Madame Suliman and his wizardry powers. In the movie, Sophie has to break through the curse: “the Witch of the Waste’s rapid aging curse is what starts the plot” (TVTropes). In every movie coming-of-age movie, there is an obstacle that the protagonist has to face. In this movie, Sophie has to face the curse that she was put under. Once understanding the obstacle, it changes the person and the way that they acted before. Furthermore, Howl has to face his obstacle of fighting against Madame Suliman and his wizardry powers. Throughout the movie, “Howl in his bird-like form transformation becomes much more monstrous when it goes out of control later in the film” (TVTropes). Howl is willing to fight for his powers and saving his town, however, the more he uses his power he starts to change and hurt himself in the process. Howl is addicted to his powers and has to protect him and his family using his powers. The trope, the Curse, goes under the coming-of-age genre because it later helps change the protagonist over time. Sophie and Howl got through breaking their curse which help them find more about themselves.
Sophie and Howl had character development.

Sophie has gained more confidence in herself than before. When Sophie was talking to Madame Suliman, “she deafened Howl and gain more confidence in oneself” (Miyazki). In the beginning of the movie, she did not have any confidence in herself because of her beauty. As the movie progresses, Sophie “beings standing up straighter with her stamina increasing until eventually she doesn’t need it anymore… she turns younger whenever she feels confident” (TVTropes). Being old shows that one does not have confidence and accepting the time left until death. Being young shows that one has to be confidence because being confident shows what one wants to do in life. A person is making their decisions for the future and he or she have to be confident in the choices that he or she makes. Sophie, by turning young when she is confident, shows that she is confident in the actions that she is doing In addition, Sophie became a heroin when she was saving Howl. She had the confidence in trying to fight to keep Howl alive (Miyazki). If Sophie was not cursed, she would not be able to save Howl, nor have the confidence to fight alongside him. Sophie would still be a timid, shy, and unconfident adolescent. Furthermore, Howl became more open-minded. In the beginning of the movie, Howl acts “very mysterious and flirtatious manner, behaving like an experienced lover when he charms Sophie” (TVTropes). Howl is like the definition of having a cocky personality. He’s the type of guy that just want to swoons in and make a woman fall in love with him and have the confidence to do that. But as the movie progresses, Howl “starts to behave in a more open and natural way around [Sophie], until he is willing to act responsibly and fight off the enemy planes to protect his ‘family’” (TVTropes). Sophie helps develop and change Howl’s character because of Sophie’s personality as a grandma. She treated Howl as a companion and guides him to care about family. In a

coming-of-age films, characters and obstacles try to shape the protagonist’s personality. That’s why the “character development” trope shows the coming-of-age of a character.
The movie’s tropes, helps show the elements of the coming-of-age genre because of Sophie and Howl have a constant battle of accepting beauty from how the movie’s society. In addition, Sophie’s obstacle of breaking her old-woman curse and Howl’s plan to take care of his wizardry powers and Madam Suliman. Through the constant battle of self-acceptance and obstacles, shown in the movie, it shows the characters’ development as Sophie tries to have more confidence in herself and Howl being less selfish about his looks and looking out for his love ones to battle his inner demons.