Howl's moving castle

Howl’s Moving castle The animated movie Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), directed by Hayao Miyazaki wraps up beautifully in a blissful moment that prevails over the lovely couple engaged in a kiss and the wicked witch turns into a harmless old woman. Everything goes just like one would want it to be. The wonders that can be discovered in the film are the magic moments of the film along with the breathtaking sceneries. The concepts of hyperrealism and metamorphosis can be used to analyze the movie. Hyperrealism in digital media essentially refers to the magical element present in the characters in the way they act and do unrealistic things. The castle walks with its chicken legs across the mountain tops causing different hissing and groaning sounds. The castle appears like a strange living being, as it moves with clang of the engines, spin of the flywheel, creaks of the shifting towers and oddment and the “ gun-turret iguana eyes and boat-like mouth riding in front”. Its stairs and the main entrance hang behind like a tail. This surely holds the fancy of the human mind. The values and textures assigned to the colors and light add to the element of hyperrealism. The director uses dark colors, moving walls, infringing swollen figures and half visible images to create the gloomy and dim ambience of the room (Burkam, 2005). While depicting the war of the wizards, the beautiful landscapes are instantly bombed and turns into destruction. The interplay of bright lights and darkness adds on to the magical impact. The mystical sunsets, organic machineries and the characters flying through air add to the hyperealistic element. Despite the animated characters and matching voiceovers the story manages to keep the viewers engaged. Sophie manages to talk life into the characters around her including the scarecrow. The way the apparently inanimate objects begin to move and talk shows a magical component. The leap of the girl through time under the spell of the wicked witch, who transforms her into an old woman, is also a hyperrealistic concept. Metamorphism refers to the way in which characters in digital media transform themselves physically. The movie depicts a series of transformations in the characters. Sophie’s appearance change in the beginning of the film from a young beautiful girl to an old woman with her young round face transformed into the haggard wrinkled one. Howl, the wizard can switch his shape and form at his own will and even his wings assume different colors and coats. The wicked jealous Witch of the Waste turns from the attractive woman into a mass of withering flesh towards the end of the story. Miyazaki, like his most other film, uses his characters to change the otherwise fairy tale concepts into some intricate work of art (The Ten Best Transformation Movies, 2009). This scarecrow incorporates the magic spells incurred by Benjamin Sullivan whose human body parts are combined with those of Prince Justin’s by the witch to create a new character Gaston. Thus, two different human forms are destroyed physically and the separate parts of the body are used to give shape to a new form. This depiction is almost analogous to making machineries out of old parts (Patten 2004). The movie, despite its fantasy world, provides rejuvenation from the fatigue of the human mind in dealing with the real world. The elements of the movie therefore come as refreshment to the viewers with its illustration of hyperrealism and metamorphic occurrences. References Burkam, A. (2005), Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s, Horn Book Magazine, June 3, 2011 from: http://www. hbook. com/resources/films/howl. asp Hayayo, M. (director), (2004) Howl’s Moving Castle, Walt Disney Pictures The Ten Best Transformation Movies, (2009). Film School Rejects, available at: http://www. filmschoolrejects. com/features/the-ten-best-transformation-movies. php (accessed on June 4, 2011) Langford, D. (2002), The complete critical assembly, Wildside press Patten, F, (2004), Watching anime, reading manga, Stone Bridge Press