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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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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.)

Jennifer McIntyre

I've read the book too and completely agree! And there are like 2 other books as well. I haven't listened to the audible version, going to check that out now!