{"id":285872,"date":"2018-08-29T21:04:40","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T21:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2018\/08\/29\/amimijones-aubreysflame-forgot-to-say-that\/"},"modified":"2018-08-29T21:04:40","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T21:04:40","slug":"amimijones-aubreysflame-forgot-to-say-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2018\/08\/29\/amimijones-aubreysflame-forgot-to-say-that\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

amimijones<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

aubreysflame<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

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. \u00a0Wynne 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). \u00a0the 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.<\/p>\n

Sophie is free from Howl\u2019s attentions and therefore safe from harm (a big part of the book is the fact that Sophie believes he eats women\u2019s hearts, and him chasing girls proves this to her). \u00a0she takes solace in the fact that she\u2019s old, and finds it freeing. \u00a0when she learns more about Howl (notably: that he doesn\u2019t eat hearts and that he\u2019s not evil), she starts to curse her age and resent him chasing girls. \u00a0BUT she remains old OF HER OWN VOLITION – Howl notes that she\u2019s perpetuating the spell by wishing to remain \u201cin disguise\u201d. \u00a0there are SO many layers to this, and lots to do with gender politics – if she\u2019s still old Sophie can\u2019t get hurt, she likes the freedom, etc. \u00a0but 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.<\/p>\n

and the film kinda\u2026 loses this? \u00a0the only thing that remains is being old = low self esteem. \u00a0which really sucks. \u00a0because there\u2019s SO MUCH MORE to Sophie being old in the book (perspective I already mentioned), and a HUGE amount of this is gender politics. \u00a0that the film just erases.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Also there\u2019s the subversion of that in the book. Sophie\u2019s belief that she\u2019s safe from Howl, isn\u2019t quite true because he fell in love with her while she was under the spell (and in the book, there\u2019s no switching between looking young and old. Sophie is looking ninety the entire time<\/i>, and Howl falls in love anyway.)<\/p>\n

Also, her belief that being old means she can\u2019t go to her stepmother or her sisters, that they\u2019d fail to recognize her or reject her, is also<\/i> unfounded. Fanny almost immediately<\/i> recognizes her at the end of the book, and hugs her and cries over her and asks why Sophie disappeared. Sophie\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

Like, there\u2019s definitely gender politics and commentary going on about beauty and youth and age and the male gaze and male violence going on, but there\u2019s also this message about how love, real love, transcends all of that. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

amimijones: aubreysflame: 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. \u00a0Wynne 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 … <\/p>\n

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