The Bloodied Rose of War: A Comparative Analysis on Howl’s Moving Castle And Bonnie and Clyde

The Bloodied Rose of War: A Comparative Analysis on Howl’s Moving Castle And Bonnie and Clyde

The Bloodied Rose of War: A Comparative Analysis on Howl’s Moving Castle And

Bonnie and Clyde

Winton Foulds

Film 1701 S1

Dave Collins

April 16th, 2014

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“A society would be wise to pay attention to the people who do not belong if it

wants to find out where it's failing. (Penn 1957)” Arthur Penn was a filmmaker known

for his strong ability to make films that pushed barriers, and still enthralled audiences.

His largest commercial feature, the 1967 Bonnie and Clyde, was but one example of how

he could incorporate current day issues and into a story set 30 years priors to when the

film was released. He was able to cast a rose-tinted light on the crooks, while keeping out

none of their vulgar behavior. However, on the other side of the world, almost 40 years

later, a legendary animator by the name of Hayao Miyazaki produced his own films that

tackled the same subjects in a unique way. Films like the 1986 Castle in the Sky or the

1997 Princess Mononoke struck audiences with their vibrant environmentalist anti-war

messages. However, his 2004 film, Howl’s Moving Castle, was perhaps one of

Miyazaki’s strongest anti-war films that showed the wrongdoings of society through

Romantic lens. These films, Bonnie and Clyde and Howl’s Moving Castle, seem like they

would be as different as the directors themselves when compared to one another; but in

reality, these films both tackle the same issues of violence, communication, and

challenging the norm in society through remarkable techniques in their respective fields.

Howl’s Moving Castle is an animated love story by Hayao Miyazaki from 2004

that deals primarily with the vanity of the flesh and the need for communication

(Miyazaki, 2004). Sophie is an 18-year-old girl who toils in the hat shop opened years

ago by her late father. One day Sophie is unexpectedly befriended by Howl, a wizard

whose large home can travel under its own power, who saves her from some philandering

soldiers. However, the Witch of the Waste becomes jealous with Sophie and Howl's

budding friendship, and turns the young woman into an aged hag. Sophie takes shelter in

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Howl's castle, and attempts to find a way to reverse the witch's spell with the help of

Calcifer, a subdued but powerful demon who exists in the form of fire, and Markl, who

protects the four-way door that can instantly take visitors to other lands. War breaks out

though, and Howl is conscripted to fight by the kingdom. Through Sophie’s help, Howl

learns about the vanity of beauty and fights against his former teacher —the High

Chancellor of Magic— who summoned him. At the end of the film, Howl has fallen in

love with Sophie for who she is, Sophie has learned to live with her age, and Howl’s

curse of transforming into a large hideous bird is halted and reversed.

Meanwhile, Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde is an American crime film

that depicts a new twist on the infamous Barrow gang of 1933 (Penn, 1967). Bonnie

Parker is bored with life and wants a change, and is soon whisked away by a charming

young drifter by the name of Clyde Barrow. Clyde dreams of a life of crime that will free

him from the hardships of the Depression, and Bonnie is eagerly supportive. The two fall

in love and begin a crime spree that extends from Oklahoma to Texas, robbing small

banks with skill and panache, but arguing over petty trifles as any couple does

throughout. They soon become minor celebrities known across the country. People are

proud to have been held up by Bonnie and Clyde; to their victims, the duo is doing what

nobody else has the guts to do. To the law, the two are evil bank robbers who deserve to

be gunned down where they stand.

Before one compares the films, however, it’s important to note the advancements

and changes in cinema between the two films. 1967 was the beginning of modern cinema,

and “Graphic violence, one the biggest characteristics of modern American cinema, was

introduced in 1967 in Bonnie and Clyde. (Mazzucco, 2012)” As the Vietnam War

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became a catalyst for societal change in the United States, cinema evolved alongside the

people. With the September 1966 revision to the film production code that allowed for

more graphic violence and mature themes, filmmakers could “move cinema closer to the

mores characteristic of modern society and to expand creative freedom of filmmakers.

(Mazzucco, 2012)"

Since then, films have continued to become as visceral as possible; to immerse

their audience into gritty experiences. War films such as the 1987 Full Metal Jacket

could show gritty violence and had more creative freedom in the content of their films in

order to provide truthful social commentary, thanks to change in production code and the

1968 establishment of the Code and Rating Administration in order to produce the G-M-

R-X system. Fast-forward to the year 2004, and the people had calmed down from the

exploration phase somewhat as production is back in Hollywood, and away from the

independent filmmakers for the most part. Cinema still looked for visceral films,

glorifying films like 1980’s The Shining, but audiences were starting to gear more

towards action/comedy films for children—big budget films like the 2001 Harry Potter

and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the 2004 Shrek 2 became the highest grossing films of their

respective years (Dirks, 2014). This was partly due to companies thinking about children

as the new generation grew up in such a media immersed environment, and cashing in on

them as the companies distracted the children from the new threat of terrorism.

However, while some films took a pro-government stance to these current events,

films like Howl’s Moving Castle kept an anti-government approach in their story. Just

like Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, Miyazaki made the futility of war a major theme in his

film. Even though the film was adapted from a novel, Miyazaki “makes a war raging

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through the country the conflict to which the reversal of Sophie’s curse is tied. (Smith,

2012)” Specifically, “Miyazaki’s film was profoundly affected by the war in Iraq,

(Devin, 2005)” as he “demonstrates that the loss of open dialogue can lead to war.(Smith,

2012)” Miyazaki went to great lengths to display this concept, as Howl and Sophie

couldn’t discuss their curses (their inner demons) and it plunged them deeper into

conflict. The government in Howl’s Moving Castle conscript people like Howl for a war

about a very trivial thing, and the war’s violence transforms good wizards into

irreversible monsters in the name of country. Howl becomes a statement on the effect of

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from the Iraq soldiers, as every violent action hastens

his irreversible process into becoming a literal monster. Even when fighting a known

evil, a giant warship filled to the brim with bombs, the feathers of the beast push through

the skin of Howl’s arm after he destroys it. Otherwise, Miyazaki makes a point to show

that one of war’s only effects is the terrorization of the civilian masses. In the film,

“There is no pretense of actual military confrontation between armed forces – the conflict

is purely one of terror from the air aimed at civilians and their homes, and is clearly

inspired by the Tokyo fire bombings. (Barnewolt, 2010)” Miyazaki’s Howl has to

contend with these monstrosities without becoming a monster himself.

Meanwhile, Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde delivers an anti-war and government

message in a different way, as it lets the monster of war be gleefully transparent in its

characters. Dealing mainly with the Vietnam War instead, Penn knew that “the Vietnam

War and disintegration of civil society that accompanied it helped put the subject of

violence on the national agenda in an urgent and ominous way." Penn was able to

artistically take what he saw happening in America and make a story that was set in a

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different time and weave his theme in seamlessly. (Mazzucco, 2012)” To further tie his

period film in with the current times, Penn made homages to iconic events in his story, as

seen when a piece of Clyde’s skull gets blown off in the climactic shooting of the film in

reference to the Kennedy assassination. Penn’s commentary on the futility of the Vietnam

War continues as he made Clyde a metaphorical figure of the youth in the Vietnam. The

soldiers, driven by a sense of wanting to survive after situations go completely awry in

the war, become exactly how Clyde was in the scene where he first killed a man. Soon,

accusations are being thrown, panic at what can be done next occurs, and people like

Clyde have an internal crisis at the mortifying actions they’ve committed—but soon

move on and cover their guilt with bravado. When the soldiers returned from the war,

they didn’t know how to re-integrate with society, and life was made an awkward hell;

for Clyde, this emotional reaction is mirrored when he meets his brother again, and “they

howl with glee and punch each other to disguise the truth that they have nothing to say.

(Ebert, 1967)”

However, the films differ in many ways as well. Specifically, the films diverge in

medium, terms of audience, and story approach. One obvious difference between the two

films is the medium in which it’s displayed. Howl’s Moving Castle is an animated film

rendered by a legendary animation studio (Studio Ghibli). The film was drawn in

traditional methods, and boasts knowledge of how life works to truly breathe life into

these still frames. Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, however, was shot in live action, and draws

aesthetic out of the quirky unnatural ways Penn can make his subjects move about the

screen in order to interestingly juxtapose movement to live subjects.

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In Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki ensured the film could be family friendly.

Although there are a couple of intense scenes, Miyazaki was showing images that people

had seen in one form or another already. Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, however, was

intended to show the gritty reality of death. As Pauline Kael mentioned in her 1967

review of the film, “…whole point of "Bonnie and Clyde" is to rub our noses in it, to

make us pay our dues for laughing. The dirty reality of death—not suggestions but blood

and holes—is necessary. (Kael, 1967)” Whereas Miyazaki took a more romantic

approach to the effects of war and used metaphors instead, Penn wanted to illicit a gut

reaction from the audience and push the barriers of the recently abolish production code

for film. The film strove for a new epoch in filmmaking that helped birth a whole

movement, so its creators didn’t give much thought to the actual audience as they dug a

new niche in the crevasse of film visuals.

Furthermore, a difference in thought process can be seen between the two directors as

they approach this sense of violence. Although Penn had social commentary on the

futility of the Vietnam War, he wasn’t above using violence as a part of his art. For

instance, in the same scene that had Barrow kill his first man, a comically botched

getaway is in progress. The violence became a dark comedy of sorts, and Penn didn’t shy

away from imbuing violence into his narrative in order to give the story new meaning.

These meanings add complexity to the story that can speak to the riotous urban

environment of 1967, as “we see that killers are not a different breed but are us without

the insight or understanding or self-control that works of art strengthen. (Kael, 1967)”

Miyazaki, though focusing on the Iraq war that he openly opposed, had his story focus

more on the totality of war and the evils of conflict in an effort to teach future generations

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about what these violent actions can cause. Miyazaki, “incensed by the American

invasion of Iraq, […] refused to travel to the United States to attend the 2003 Oscars

where he was to receive his Best Animated Film award for Spirited Away. (Penney,

2013)” This sense of anger showed throughout Howl’s Moving Castle, as “Miyazaki

crafted characters who fought for the nation but were left feeling empty, […which] is

vitally important in a time of international stresses and discord. (Penney, 2013)”

Although Miyazaki’s film doesn’t push graphical taboo as Penn did in 1967, Miyazaki

displayed a story wrought with images on the effects of conflict that showed no real “evil

being,” but rather cast the conflict itself as the antagonist by making the characters harm

themselves, and the ones they loved, through their actions. For instance, one should note

a latter scene of the film where the group of friends are on the shambling remains of the

moving castle as they try to find Howl. The Witch of the Wastes has discovered that the

heart she yearned to take, Howl’s heart, has been fueling the fire demon Calcifer this

entire time as he used it to keep the castle together. In a fit of selflessness, the Witch

takes it for herself—believing Sophie wanted to take it for herself-- and removes Calcifer

from his hearth like home and setting herself on fire. In an effort to save her friend and

get Calcifer away from the Witch, Sophie throws a bucket of water on them in the midst

of the commotion. This lack of communication makes Calcifer almost die, the castle

completely fall apart, and knocks Sophie herself down a deep crack in the Earth. Yet

another example by Miyazaki on how conflict hurts all parties involved, and stresses the

need for communication.

With such radically different, yet strikingly similar films, it is important to note

the major influences on these directors and how they would attribute to the creation of

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their filmic style. In Arthur Penn’s case, the answer lay in the French New Wave. Penn’s

Bonnie acts much like Catherine from François Truffaut’s 1962 Jules and Jim, and

Penn’s blatant depiction of sex between Bonnie and Clyde is a staple of the French New

Wave philosophy in breaking down social taboos. Also like French cinema, the narrative

isn’t truly traditional as there’s no clear-cut beginning, middle, and end, but rather an

adventure with the gun-toting protagonists. But the biggest trademark of the French New

Wave that Penn brings to the table is the sense of freedom. Like when Antoine is stuck in

tight spaces and wants to finally go to the open beach in 400 Blows (1959), or when Jules

and Jim analyze the limitations of freedom, the drive to be free is a staple of the French

New Wave. After all, Penn made Bonnie’s whole reason for leaving with Clyde is

because Bonnie feels like she’s trapped in a small town forever, and the story has them

constantly traveling to secure their safety from the government. Additionally,

Eisenstein’s influence can be seen in Bonnie and Clyde when Clyde’s shocked,

murderous face almost directly mirrors the man’s face from Eisenstein’s 1925 Potemkin.

On the other hand, Miyazaki is well known animator who is actually an influence

to seemingly everyone else in the industry. However, through enough digging, one can

see what inspired Miyazaki to make films. Most of his influences are animators

themselves that made Miyazaki wonder about the limits of animation. Yuri Norstein was

one such animator, famous for his animated shorts in Soviet Russia, who collaborated

with Miyazaki on how characters could ‘act’ properly when animated well, which would

soon become a trademark of the Miyazaki animation. Another aspect of animation that

breathed its way into Howl’s Moving Castle was Frédéric Back’s way of animating plants

in his 1987 short, The Man Who Planted Trees. Back’s method astounded Miyazaki, and

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made him pay attention to how wind can affect plants (an important thing to note in

Miyazaki’s films considering his Romantic-esque love for pastoral sequences). On the

filmic side, however, Miyazaki has a strong influence from Akira Kurosawa’s work and

mindset. Namely, their love of history and the thought process that goes behind such a

collaborative art form. Even though Kurosawa is a live action director who focuses on

more adult themed films, the two have often discussed how a film’s idea gets formed and

the effectiveness of reworking ideas (Kurosawa, 1993).

In the end, no matter how different directors can be, no matter how diverse the

medium is, films can tackle the same subjects in unique ways that enthrall audiences.

Penn’s visceral, taboo breaking, French New Wave Bonnie and Clyde helped pave the

way for modern cinema in 1967 as the issues of war, violence, and societal norms were

challenged. Miyazaki, just as much an intellectual as Penn, instead focused on a more

metaphorically sensational story from the original novel by Dianna Wynne Jones to focus

on the exponential detriments of war for his 2004 film Howl’s Moving Castle. Either

way, “We [filmmakers] depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important

things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation. (Miyazaki 1997)”

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Works Cited

Barnewolt, C. (2010, 4 5). Hayao Miyazaki: The Transnational Fantasy of Post-WWII

Japan . Retrieved 3 2, 2014, from Post-bubble culture:

http://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2010/04/05/hayao-miyazaki-the-

transnational-fantasy-of-post-wwii-japan/

Ebert, R. (1967, 09 25). Bonnie and Clyde. Retrieved 03 05, 2014, from RogerEbert:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bonnie-and-clyde-1967

Devin, G. (2005, June 20). A 'Positive' Pessmist: An Interview With Hayao Miyazaki.

Newsweek , p. 6.

Dirks, T. (2014, 01 01). All-Time Box Office Hits. Retrieved 03 05, 2014, from

FIlmsite: http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice2.html

Kurosawa, A. (1993, 07 03). Miyazaki and Kurosawa Fireside Chat. (H. Miyazaki,

Interviewer)

Kael, P. (1967, 10 21). Bonnie and Clyde. New Yorker Magazine , p. 14.

Mazzucco, T. (2012, 08 10). Filming a Revolution: The Birth of Graphic Violence in

Bonnie and Clyde. Retrieved 03 29, 2014, from Reel American History:

http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/1_63_9

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2004). Howl's Moving Castle [Motion Picture].

Penn, A. (Director). (1967). Bonnie and Clyde [Motion Picture].

Penney, M. (2013, 07 21). Miyazaki and the Asia-Pacific War. Retrieved 03 01, 2014,

from Japan Focus: http://www.japanfocus.org/events/view/189

Smith, L. (2012, 01 01). War, Wizards, and Words: Transformative Adaptation and

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http://www.japanfocus.org/events/view/189

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bonnie-and-clyde-1967

http://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2010/04/05/hayao-miyazaki-the-transnational-fantasy-of-post-wwii-japan/

http://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2010/04/05/hayao-miyazaki-the-transnational-fantasy-of-post-wwii-japan/


Transformed Meanings in Howl’s Moving Castle. Retrieved 03 10, 2014, from

BGSU: DoIU4Bo7fbIJ:www2.bgsu.edu/departments/theatrefilm/projector/04-01-

11/page96214.html&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

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The Bloodied Rose of War: A Comparative Analysis on Howl’s Moving Castle And Bonnie and Clyde

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