Rationale
The first time I watched the movie Howl’s Moving Castle made by Hayao Miyazaki, I was deeply attracted by the wonderful and dramatic movie scenes. However, I couldn’t understand what this movie really expressed at that time until I read the novel written by Diana Wynne Jones. She wrote a fantasy story about fate, courage, and love.
“In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of the three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.” This is the opening of the whole story, and, Sophie, one of the protagonists, is deeply trapped in this misfortune because she is the eldest of the three. After being turned into an old crone by the Witch of the Waste, Sophie leaves her father’s hat shop and starts to seek her own fortune. Unexpectedly, she finds notorious Wizard Howl’s moving castle and she decides to be a cleaning lady for him. Although Howl is described as a lecherous and evil wizard in the town Sophie lived, Market Chipping, he cannot pour out his difficulties. After meeting with Sophie, they are influencing and changing each other gradually.
After having the course Teaching Literature for Young Adults, I suppose that this novel is worth being read and taught. Firstly, the element of magic, witches, wizard, demon, and so on forth, is popular, interesting, and attractive. I firmly believe that this novel can bring the students different reading experience. Secondly, when we talk about the characteristics of Young Adult Literature, according to Literature for Today’s Young Adults (2012), young adult authors write from the viewpoint of young people. The protagonists in this novel are also young adults, who are struggling to identify themselves. I believe that the students can be inspired by the experiences and accomplishments of the protagonists, especially the students, who are confused in identifying themselves, just like Sophie and Howl. Finally, the dramatic film version made by Hayao Miyazaki and the gorgeous soundtrack made by Joe Hisaishi are really fantastic tools and strategies to promote this novel to the students.
As I mentioned above, the soundtrack for the film Howl’s Moving Castle made by Joe Hisaishi is fabulous, I am thinking that it will be interesting and challengeable to use different songs to illustrate this story again. And also, I totally agree with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s saying that music is the universal language of mankind. Music is an effective way to express the feelings, emotions, and the atmosphere. Thus, I chose the option 4, soundtrack, for my final project.
In my play lists, some songs are used to reflect the main themes of this novel, and some songs are used to track the changes of the main characters. More details are shown in the Soundtrack Page.
“In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of the three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.” This is the opening of the whole story, and, Sophie, one of the protagonists, is deeply trapped in this misfortune because she is the eldest of the three. After being turned into an old crone by the Witch of the Waste, Sophie leaves her father’s hat shop and starts to seek her own fortune. Unexpectedly, she finds notorious Wizard Howl’s moving castle and she decides to be a cleaning lady for him. Although Howl is described as a lecherous and evil wizard in the town Sophie lived, Market Chipping, he cannot pour out his difficulties. After meeting with Sophie, they are influencing and changing each other gradually.
After having the course Teaching Literature for Young Adults, I suppose that this novel is worth being read and taught. Firstly, the element of magic, witches, wizard, demon, and so on forth, is popular, interesting, and attractive. I firmly believe that this novel can bring the students different reading experience. Secondly, when we talk about the characteristics of Young Adult Literature, according to Literature for Today’s Young Adults (2012), young adult authors write from the viewpoint of young people. The protagonists in this novel are also young adults, who are struggling to identify themselves. I believe that the students can be inspired by the experiences and accomplishments of the protagonists, especially the students, who are confused in identifying themselves, just like Sophie and Howl. Finally, the dramatic film version made by Hayao Miyazaki and the gorgeous soundtrack made by Joe Hisaishi are really fantastic tools and strategies to promote this novel to the students.
As I mentioned above, the soundtrack for the film Howl’s Moving Castle made by Joe Hisaishi is fabulous, I am thinking that it will be interesting and challengeable to use different songs to illustrate this story again. And also, I totally agree with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s saying that music is the universal language of mankind. Music is an effective way to express the feelings, emotions, and the atmosphere. Thus, I chose the option 4, soundtrack, for my final project.
In my play lists, some songs are used to reflect the main themes of this novel, and some songs are used to track the changes of the main characters. More details are shown in the Soundtrack Page.