The Cultural Infusion that is Howl's Moving Castle

     Howl's Moving Castle is Japanese genre heavily influenced by European culture. This intentional influence is what makes it appealing to an American audience. We know that in Japanese culture women are deducted down to being emotional and non functional. Sophie, although she was the damsel in distress, embraced her spell the best she could and in the end helped Howl and their family as much as they helped her. The stereotypical ending was also influenced by European culture. The happy ending of love and family is desired by American audiences and our need for all loose ends to be tied up in a pretty bow. Miyazaki however puts a spin on it because it is somewhat confusing and Sophie does not end up with prince, as she would in an American film. The true loves kiss is over the top stereotypical of American culture. We see a lot of political references to Japanese history. The war being depicted is reminiscent of the Tokyo bombings. The contrast between the country side we see at the beginning and then the polluted, industrialized, over populated town is important to note. Also, the race up the stairs, which I learned is also Japanese culture. Both Miyazaki's political and social views of both cultures are clear throughout this movie. Overall, I think the combination of cultures works for the film. They are both blended nicely and the movie is enjoyable for many different audiences.

Howl's Moving Castle

            In June 2008, freakfire-1 watched Howls Moving Castle. Freakfire begins their review by saying “This is the worst movie I have seen this year”. Freakfire must have spent the first half of the year watching some pretty great movies, because I personally enjoyed the movie. Freakfire then boldly states that he does not see any upcoming movie for the rest of the year that will “challenge this heap of garbage”. I’ll admit Howls Moving Castle is not the best movie I have seen this year, but calling it garbage is very extreme. The reviewer’s first complaint is the overall premise of the movie.  Complaining that some of the first things you see is a castle and a girl who eventually gets a spell cast on her and this is “not a good sign”. Its understandable that a damsel in distress is stereotypical, but as we learn, Sophie ends up embracing her old age as best she can, often using it to her advantage, and ends up helping Howl and crew instead of being the victim. One valid point freakfire points out is that some of the scenes are boring, although I would not go as far as to fast forward through them like the reviewer did. I found myself able to take in depth notes during the “boring” scenes and returning my attention to the movie not missing anything.

            Freakfire goes on to evaluate some of the characters, his favorite being Calcifer. It’s easy to see how Calcifer would be a fan favorite, and having Billy Crystal voice him adds to his charm. Perhaps, the sole reason I chose this critique was because his least favorite character was Turnip head. How could anyone not love Turnip Head? His loyalty and willingness to help Sophie won me over. No, he never said a word while in scarecrow form, but I found myself smiling ever time he popped back on the screen. Yes, once again its stereotypical that he turned into a prince once kissed by his love, but wasn’t the whole point of the ending, to mock the European happy ending? Freakfire ends his review by stating “The boy, Howl, and everybody else should never again grace screens with their presence. It just isn't worth the headache”. This really just leads me to believe he stumbled upon this movie expecting a cartoonish Tim Burton type film and not really understanding this is supposed to be Japanese genre heavily influenced by the European culture. The political references and the ways Miyazaki pokes fun at the cultures obviously escapes this reviewer. That is probably why he did not enjoy the film as much as me. 

Japanese vs European Goth

     When comparing European Gothic Literature to Japanese there are similarities and differences. One of the first tropes we studied, forbidden love, is common in both cultures. It is one of the main tropes in “The Castle of Otranto” and the main trope of “The Surgery Room”. Also, hidden identities are the same throughout the gothic, regardless of culture. Identities are hidden in many of the gothic stories we have read thus far including our original story, “The Castle of Otranto”. Hidden Identity was one the tropes in “The Tattooer” as well.

     The Japanese Gothic approaches gothic from a different aspect. They do not fear death like the European culture. They approach life like they are already dead, so they really have nothing to lose. In the stories we read prior to Japanese Gothic, the deaths of the characters were always one of, if not the most, gothic and climatic part. Matilda’s death in “The Castle of Otranto”, or Beatrice’s suicide in “Rappaccini’s Daughter” is an example of this. In the Japanese gothic however, the deaths were not the part that was focused on the most. In The Surgery Room the most gothic part was the fact she was willing to go through the surgery without anesthetic to protect her secret. In the Chrysanthemum Vow, his suicide alone was not the most gothic part, but that he ended his own life to keep his honor. The Japanese beliefs really shine through when reading gothic stories from their culture. 

Gothic Graphic Novels

            My experience with graphic novels was very limited up until Gaiman’s The Sandman. To my surprise, I enjoyed it very much. Usually, when I read a novel or short story my imagination paints a picture as to what the characters and setting look like. The authors of graphic novels are able to relay much more information to the reader via the pictures. The audience is able to take a glimpse inside the authors mind as to what the thought when writing the story and developing the characters and scenes. I really enjoyed the vivid pictures to go along with the story in The Sandman. I would read through the text bubbles and then go back and carefully examine the details of each picture.

            Gothic and horror genres are often considered to be one in the same but they are separate genres and yet they are actually intertwined. There are gothic influences in horror movies and horror does make up an aspect of the gothic. The difference is the gothic adds more to the story than just scary situations and frightening scenes. One examples of what is added in the gothic genre is irony. Unlike a lot of horror stories, in gothic literature we are able to get to know the characters. Often times we see the innocent characters suffer tragic fates. That is a prime example of irony and how it fits into the gothic genre. 

Formal Paper

The Gothic Outsider

            “The Outsider” by H.P Lovecraft is an eerie tale of an individual who has been held captive since childhood, eventually escapes, and then realizes things about himself are not what they appeared to be. Lovecraft uses gothic tropes to show that his experiences are what he bases his personal identification on, and it conditions how he understands the world around him. To understand the use of these tropes it is essential to first understand the gothic genre.

             When reflecting upon the word “gothic” it automatically evokes a feeling of uneasiness. The term gothic can be applied to anything, whether it be written, film, music, and other works, or even experiences, which make one feel somewhat scared or anxious.  However, a work or experience does not have to be a scary situation to be labeled gothic (that is just one example). The gothic genre is full of tropes, which can be easily identified and help one label something as gothic. These tropes can be identified visually, aurally, and emotionally. If the situation or work has a dark shadowy lightning, and castle like architecture, it would be considered gothic. Within gothic literature and movies we often see a character try to escape the oppression that is happening around them. Sometimes they are able to escape and seek refuge some place else (often a near by religious establishment) but sometimes, the character is not able to escape their surroundings and instead, they retreat into their own head. This is an example of the mental illness aspect of gothic. The gothic is more of creating an atmosphere than a specific idea therefore, not all of these aspects need to be combined together for it to be considered gothic.

            When first beginning H.P Lovecraft’s short story “The Outsider”, we learn that our narrator has been held captive in an old dark castle. He has no recollection of where he was born, and has spend years in the decaying castle. Lovecraft uses the classic gothic trope of the decaying castle as the setting to his story, to create a creepy atmosphere. He also uses the gothic trope of oppression to make the reader aware that the narrator has had no real life experience, only what has occurred within the castle. The paragraph continues and we learn that these experiences consist of him being surrounded by bones, skeletons, and crypts. He states that he never found those items as scary but rather more normal than the pictures and stories he found in the books in the castle.  The books made up his mental image of the world outside and his self-image. The only memory of another being is a vague recollection of someone like himself, yet aged and decrepit, he thinks took care of him at some point.

            Our narrator has grown tired of the oppression, and just like the common gothic main character, has decided to escape. He has to climb the stairs in the dark, dank tower in order to escape. Lovecraft uses the trope of darkness, and it makes the reader anxious to see what is going to occur next. As he continues up the tower he describes the thick darkness and slimy walls. This brings to mind Chris Baldick’s description of gothic fiction. Baldick states, “For the Gothic effect to be attained, a tale should combine a fearful sense of inheritance in time with a claustrophobic sense of enclosure in space, these two dimensions reinforcing one another to produce an impression of sickening descent into disintegration” (xix). In this selection the narrator touches on the gothic trope of inheritance, and of the physical setting of the story. Within “The Outsider” we do not know why the narrator inherited this life, and his journey through the tower towards his escape evokes the feeling of claustrophobia.

            When he finally escapes, he reaches a castle and peers through the window. He sees the people’s faces and hears their voices. As he joins their company, they all scream and run in fear. At first, he thinks there is a monster among them, and he touches the monster. He runs away, and since he cannot return to the castle, he goes to the Nile and befriends friendly ghouls, because when he touched the monster, it was actually a mirror. By having our narrator be a monster figure, Lovecraft is rebelling against the classic gothic genre. In the usual gothic tales, the humans are fleeing from the monsters but in this case, the monster is the one fleeing and ultimately does not understand his own identity until the humans reject him. Corinna Wagner talks about the face being a fixture of gothic tales.  “Dead faces are a gothic trope, which present a startling view of the processes of identification, subjection, communication and transparency”(83). It did not matter what was on the inside of the narrator, as Wagner points out, the outer view is how they identify the being. Lovecraft also incorporates the other ghouls as a way to show the need for our narrator to be with people like himself. Since the narrator had no experience, he assumed he was just like everyone else. Unfortunately, he learns that this is not true. Inside he feels normal and is tired of being alone, but his outside appearance hinders him from being accepted.

            Lovecraft never completely states what kind of monster or being the narrator is. He does this to add even more mystery into his short story. Ernst Jentsch described the effects of leaving the readers in suspense in his essay On the Psychology of the Uncanny. Jentsch states, “In telling a story one of the most successful devices for easily creating uncanny effects is to leave the reader in uncertainty whether a particular figure in the story is a human being or an automaton and to do it in such a way that his attention is not focused directly upon his uncertainty, so that he may not be led to go into the matter and clear it up immediately” (13). Although, the narrators identity is the not the main aspect of the story, it still leaves the readers hypothesizing.

            Many will argue that the narrator was not actually a person being held captive in a castle but rather a zombie escaping his tomb. This argument is made because rising from the grave is sometimes seen within gothic works, however, this is not the case within this story. This can be refuted by the passage on page 319 in “The Outsider”,  “Some of the faces seemed to hold expressions that brought up incredibly remote recollections, others were utterly alien.”  As stated previously, the narrator could not remember how or when he ended up in the castle, and he relied on the books for his view on the outside world, including humans. If the narrator had only seen human faces within the books he would be able to place where he had seen their expressions before. Due to the fact that he states he had “remote recollections”, this leads one to believe he had experienced human interaction before arriving at the castle, thus making him some sort living being.

            Lovecraft’s “The Outsider”, is more than just your typical scary story. The emotional journey and obstacles of the narrator make it more than just a tale of a monster. In addition to the gothic tropes mentioned, the feelings of alienation and abandonment experienced by the narrator give it the overall gothic atmosphere. The majority of main characters in classic gothic tales could relate to the alienation and abandonment felt by the narrator, making them all outsiders together.

Works Cited

Baldick, Chris. “Introduction” The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. xi-xxiii Print.

Jentsch, Ernst. “On the Psychology of the Uncanny.” A New Journal in Philosophy, Literature, and the Social Sciences.1.2 (1996) :7-17. Print.

Lovecraft, H.P. “The Outsider.” The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. 316-321. Print.

Wagner, Corinna. "The Dream of a Transparent Body: Identity, Science and the Gothic Novel."  74-92. Print.