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DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (Patreon)

Published:
2023-08-21 15:00:10
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

How do you find joy in the world despite unideal circumstances?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are joined by editor and fellow filmmaker Sophie Telléz to discuss one of her favorite movies, Howl's Moving Castle. They talk about Sophie’s (the character, not our guest) lack of confidence and her journey of radical acceptance toward self-worth. Sophie (our guest, not the character) explains why the movie and character resonate with her so much. She praises the voice actors, especially Christian Bale… who sounds like Batman sometimes? They talk about how Sophie’s (the character, not our guest) aging physically and metaphorically transforms her, and Alan is gleeful about the magical whimsy. More whimsy!

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Comments

Fell Hawke

Howl!!!! Yeess!! My all time fave ghilbi film!!!!

Eve72

Been waiting for this one! Huzzah!

Shawna Keyes

I love this movie! Howl's Moving Castle is actually based on a book of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. There are two more books after (Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways).

Em Bee

Best movies turn out the best CT episodes! Loved this. Will definitely watch on the main release to see how much gets cut out 😂

Quoofle

I absolutely love the end where they talk about attacking Alan's kids 😂 y'all are amazing This movie has helped me through some very dark moments, it's one of me and my boyfriend's favorite movies to watch together 🩷🩵

Erin n Stefan

I’m here for Jono talking about gummies 😂 somehow I didn’t expect it. -Erin

Megan Rizzo

So this is based on a book and I'm wondering if there is more context in the book.

Rayne

I always took Sophie's aging and deaging as a metaphor for struggling with mental illness.

elizathemoose

I was hoping this one would be covered

Katherine George

Ghibli films are absolutely the "ink blots of movies" b/c it's what you bring to them, not what is spoon-fed to you. My husband brought this over to watch when we were dating b/c I hadn't seen it. As the credits were rolling (first watch) and I was gushing, he blew my mind by pointing out that Sophie calls out to Howl when she's in his childhood "I know how to help you know, find me in the future!" and the first thing he says when he saves her from the guards at the beginning of the movie is "there you are sweetheart, sorry I'm late, I was looking everywhere for you" 🤯 I *immediately* started it over and watched it a second time. And yes, partly because I want to hear Christian Bale call me (er Sophie) sweetheart / my girl, mkay?

Emily Snell-Salvaggio

Yaayyy for another Ghibli episode!! And another episode with Sophie! 10/10, great episode

Johnny

This episode was exactly like a Studio Ghibli film, in that I don't know what it was, or what was happening half the time, but I loved it and want more.

Alice Yacono

So happy you reacted to this movie. Please do "When Marnie was there" next.

Ariadwyn

Ghibli is legit the only asian content I will watch dubbed. They always go with quality actors and translate well. This and Spirited Away are my favorite. But The Wind Rises has the best music score of all time!!!!

BB Writes

Thank you! yayay, I've been waiting for this one, one of my all time favourite movies. One of the most magical things about this movie is that its somehow different every single time. It does/feels/expresses whatever you need it to at the time of watching. Kind of like Mary Poppins carpet bag...

Kris Mahoney

This was already a fantastic episode - but then the talk about how Alan's family would do in a battle royale came up and I. AM. DYING. Jono's bafflement *helpless laughter...

ruffboiMags

I think the thing about this film is that it was made to evoke the feelings it evoked in Miyazaki when he read the book, or the time in his life it reminded him of? This is just a theory, but because of some of the things changed and some of the things just utterly glossed over, and knowing at least enough about the book to know they were different/more explicit in the source material, I think that (much like most of Miyazaki's stuff tbh) he used a setting, some characters, and a few threads of story to evoke a feeling or period of life that most people experience. Like, Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro are about being little, Spirited Away is about that last sort of part of childhood where you're really a CHILD, before the growing up happens, that you can see coming but is scary. Kiki's delivery service is about coming into your own as a young person, and to me Howl's Moving Castle is about that early period of young adulthood where you're finally on your own, making your own decisions, without the sort of shelter that childhood (generally) has from some of the rougher parts of being a grown up, like properly falling in love and feeling inadequate and how even being a grown-up can be scary, but also that growing old isn't necessarily bad - Sophie's NOT old, but she also doesn't hesitate to adapt and doesn't seem to be too fussed about it. ...sorry this was a lot of words to say not much, I just love how Miyazaki's stuff can make me feel very specific things and bring me back to specific ages, while being so dream-like. (also it's worth noting that in the books, Sophie's curse was something she herself was maintaining, as she's also capable of magic but wasn't initially aware of it. I do wonder if at this point in the film, Sophie's curse *has* been lifted, at least inasmuch as the original curse is no longer binding her against her will, but she's leaned into it enough and felt safe enough in it that she's perpetuating it herself. But it's really unclear.)

Michael Charboneau

When Sophie (T) talks about people being condescending about someone not knowing things, it reminded me of this xkcd comic. https://xkcd.com/1053/ People are learning things new to them all the time. Be happy you can pass that knowledge on!

Michael Charboneau

Also, I know your patron shout outs are random, but if I had a choice I’d love for mine to be on a Ghibli movie. 😋

The pumpkin queen

Howl searched his whole life looking for Sophie, like she told him to. he built the castle to find her. Was a double agent in the war just in case she was in either kingdom. Only dated pretty women hoping to find her. He knew who she was despite the cure, yet wait for her to figure it out on her time. She had his heart the whole time and didn’t even know.

Neurotic Cow

I had a funny adverse reaction when you said her aging is a manifestation of her confidence b/c I totally disagree, but then I thought we might be using different definitions. It's definitely about how she sees herself and in the book it clarifies a bit that she is supposed to be the responsible one, and she always plays the adult, and she's not allowed her own life. She spends all her time making hats and envisioning who would wear them. But her own hat is very plain. She's basically depressed in the way that turns emotionless. She has no fear, though - she stands up to the witch of the West, goes out into the wilderness, meets a fire demon, etc. But part of her fearlessness is that she just doesn't care because she doesn't matter anyways. And that's the kind of confidence you were talking about - not confidence to do scary things, but confidence in her self worth. Anyways... Sorry I get passionate about this movie. I haven't but could see myself watching it 5 times in one day.

Smidge

TIL Audrey is a tiny Super Saiyan. Nice.

imahead

I really love this movie and I'm so happy you did a episode on it. I had never thought about it in the way you talked about it, and I really appreciate your perspectives on a movie I have loved for so long. It helped me understand it in a deeper way and made me understand why I relate so much to Sohpie. It awoke a lot of sadness in me but also acceptence of myself and hope for the mental health journey I'm on. Thank you for making this amazing channel and your work for raising awareness and acceptence of mental health! <3 Also, please do an episode on Mononoke Hime! I find the themes in that movie so interesting and would love to hear your thoughts on Ashitaka's journey. I really admire his way of treating people with so much respect and kindness, how he tries to see things from their perspective whithout judging them, even when he nows they are the cause for his curse and the suffering of the forest.

Dan Wilde

It's really depressing how badly you guys misinterpret Howl's character and I wonder if its because you get hung up on his English voice actor rather than actually paying attention to the character. Howl isn't a 'bad boy.' He's a weird awkward nerd that has a particular facade that he's maintain and when it starts to break down he FREAKS OUT. Howl *needs* the world to see him in a particular way and when he thinks he's loosing that, he panics. It's not until Sophie that he starts to feel safe enough to really be himself. It's really depressing that you guys missed that and I wonder if it isn't some of your own damage that blinded you to that particular theme.

Sadie

Okay guys, you really need to start doing subs. I NEVER watch dubs unless I don't have a choice or am comparing the dubs and subs (yes, I watch dubs with the subs on. You should try it Spirited Away is fun for that but not the Disney one). When it comes to Ghibli, the dubs are always awful in my opinion (I've watched them all in English twice each just to be sure since there are different versions.) The English doesn't capture it the same way and a lot is lost in translation. Plus, Disney cut scenes from some movies to make it more palatable to westerners (Kiki's Delivery Service is notable for that. We have a set of original releases and the Disney collection and I have compared the two.) Howl's Moving Castle is my go to sick day / sad day movie but it was so hard to watch this episode with the dubs. In the Japanese, Howl is super awkward and Sophie is pretty depressed. Her family isn't helpful and tends to make her feelings worse by telling her she should be happier. She has self perception issues and possibly body dismophia. She finds solice in just being an old house keeper and not having to attract a partner. Howl doesn't offer her the cleaning position, she just wanders in and claims it because it was shelter and he's a slob. Howl helps her realize that her true self is beautiful and it has nothing to do with how she looks. She helps him though his total meltdown over his own looks. (He's so dramatic.) They both give each other confidence without realizing it as it happens. He has "been waiting all this time".

Hannah Vaughn

Sophie, you are not alone. Howl was my first cartoon crush as well. 😜 Guys you have to READ THE BOOK 😊as whimsical as this story is, it does make SO MUCH MORE SENSE after you do! A lot was left out to make room for some other themes. It truly is lovely read, especially the audible version. 💕🥹

Lara

I have only ever watched Howl's Moving Castle in the German dubbed version and it still really screws with my mind that he's not called Hauro in English. That's just wrong. (Seriously, who on earth thought to change the names???) Also, Jono, to your point regarding Sophie thinking "If only I was pretty enough to be canabalized" - welcome to a woman's world. That's the socialization we all go through. Even I have caught myself thinking that I couldn't possibly be pretty because men didn't catcall me. Yes. I hate catcallers and when I first thought that, I was super confused. But it's just that: it's something every woman experiences, more so if you're pretty, so if men don't catcall you, that clearly means that you're not pretty or attractive. Because catcalls are such a normalized thing that 'missing out on' them seems less like a good thing and more like a judgement of a woman's beauty. I know that those things are utter bullshit. I luckily have only had them occasionally for a rather short period of time. But I still did have them and I believe that Sophie would feel the same. Of course she would have wanted Howl to have a desire to eat her heart because that would mean she's (considered) beautiful. It takes quite a lot of confidence to break out of that kind of thought pattern and understand it for what it is: buying into the lies of a severely patriarchal and sexualized society where a man's view of women's beauty is still the primary determinant of a woman's self-worth—at least for a period of her life. That said: thank you so much for reacting to this movie! I love Howl's Moving Castle a lot. It is a wonderfully told story, strongly anti-war, and just stunningly beautiful as all studio Ghibli movies are. I've been really looking forward to you reacting to it and I'm so happy that Sophie was part of this reaction! (Also: Sophie, you look stunning! I really love your style and your makeup skills.)

Ravenclaw 14

lmao Spirited Away is actually one of my go-to shows on a gummy XD