forgot to say that, without Howl chasing girls and Sophie resenting him for it, the film completely erases part of the point of Sophie being old. Ā Wynne Jones is using an idea that Beauvoir talked about - that being an old woman is both tragic (as we lose male attention/attractiveness) and freeing (as we are freed from the male gaze). Ā the idea is that with being old comes liberation, and the true meaning of what it is to be a woman, as society no longer forces gender norms on us.
Sophie is free from Howlās attentions and therefore safe from harm (a big part of the book is the fact that Sophie believes he eats womenās hearts, and him chasing girls proves this to her). Ā she takes solace in the fact that sheās old, and finds it freeing. Ā when she learns more about Howl (notably: that he doesnāt eat hearts and that heās not evil), she starts to curse her age and resent him chasing girls. Ā BUT she remains old OF HER OWN VOLITION - Howl notes that sheās perpetuating the spell by wishing to remain āin disguiseā. Ā there are SO many layers to this, and lots to do with gender politics - if sheās still old Sophie canāt get hurt, she likes the freedom, etc. Ā but of course on a personal level being old is her denying her feelings for Howl, and also a representation of her low self esteem - being old is a defence mechanism and protection, both on a gender level and a personal one.
and the film kinda⦠loses this? Ā the only thing that remains is being old = low self esteem. Ā which really sucks. Ā because thereās SO MUCH MORE to Sophie being old in the book (perspective I already mentioned), and a HUGE amount of this is gender politics. Ā that the film just erases.
Also thereās the subversion of that in the book. Sophieās belief that sheās safe from Howl, isnāt quite true because he fell in love with her while she was under the spell (and in the book, thereās no switching between looking young and old. Sophie is looking ninety the entire time, and Howl falls in love anyway.)
Also, her belief that being old means she canāt go to her stepmother or her sisters, that theyād fail to recognize her or reject her, is also unfounded. Fanny almost immediately recognizes her at the end of the book, and hugs her and cries over her and asks why Sophie disappeared. Sophieās belief that the love of her family, friends and even her romantic interests is somehow conditional on her appearance is shown to be completely false at the end, which I think is absolutely beautiful.
Like, thereās definitely gender politics and commentary going on about beauty and youth and age and the male gaze and male violence going on, but thereās also this message about how love, real love, transcends all of that.






















