Hayao Miyazaki Film Food — Part Four: HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
The next article in our Hayao Miyazaki film food editorial series focuses on Howl's Moving Castle. If you missed the first three articles that we've posted, you can check them out here.
Hayao Miyazaki's movies are widely known for their warm colors, cute pets, brave characters, attractive storylines, and incredible attention to detail. But one of the most significant parts of any Miyazaki film is actually the food. Miyazaki uses food in specific ways to bring characters together, build their relationships, and add depth to the story.
While there are only a few scenes involving food in Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki does not fail to make them significant. In this film, the food is used to symbolize Sophie’s growing relationships with the characters she meets throughout the movie.
The first meal we see Sophie eat is very simple—bread and cheese. This is when she has left her mother and sister and gone off on her own to the Waste, to try to find a cure for the curse that makes her look like an old woman. Her meal, like her current family situation, is incomplete.
The second meal of the film takes place the morning after Sophie has moved into Howl’s castle, having met Calcifer and Markl. Markl sets about making breakfast—bread and cheese again—and Sophie asks him why he doesn’t want eggs or bacon. His response, explaining that only Howl can cook using Calcifer, carries significance—they can’t have a complete meal without the complete family being there.
Sophie ignores Markl’s comments and convinces (blackmails) Calcifer to let her cook. Just as she starts frying the bacon, Howl returns and finishes the cooking, allowing them all to share an entire meal. While the food is great, the dining experience is a bit…lacking. They are eating on a dirty table, using bowls for cups, and one utensil each, as the rest are all dirty.
Howl leaves after this meal, and Sophie and Markl are subsequently returned to eating their simple bread.
From here we have to wait around 45 minutes until we see another food scene in the movie, and during that time, more characters have come to live at Howl’s castle—the Witch of the Waste and Heen, Madame Sullivan’s dog.
While we don’t really get to see the food for this meal, everyone appears to be enjoying it. We do get to see the clean table and nice dishware—a large improvement from last time—but the main focus is on everyone that is at the table. This meal, just like Sophie’s family, is finally complete.
By: Catherine Wilson, Yifan Zhao, and Tommy Wiliams
