Relational Development In Howl's Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle is a Studio Ghibli film that portrays a girl, Sophie, and her adventures with a moving castle and its inhabitants during a time of war. Sophie and Howl first meet each other in a back alleyway in her home city, and the first meeting is more of an escape than a conversation. The movie portrays the development of Sophie and Howl’s relationship, as well as how that relationship alters their self-concept for the better, and how their communication with each other correlates to their relationship development. Upon their second interaction, Sophie is cursed to appear as an old woman and is unable to speak of her misfortune. Despite this, Howl is aware of who she is having met her in their escape a day or two before, along with

Of the ascending and descending stages of relational development, Howl’s Moving Castle displays the ascending stages, initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding. The first stages, initiating and experimenting, are displayed when Howl and Sophie first meet in the alleyway. The initiating and experimenting stages are described as the stages where the two parties first meet and start asking questions about each other’s lives, such as, “What do you do for a living?” and “Where are you from?” (Adler, et al. 279). In the movie, this is when Howl intervenes in the soldier’s poking and prodding into Sophie’s personal life. To do this he distracts the soldiers and helps her run away, soon after being met with another problem of being chased by the Wicked Witch of the Waste’s henchmen. This scene of the movie shows each of their initiations towards a relationship, which is simply showing interest in a possible second meeting, as well as showing hints of experimenting when Howl asks Sophie where she’s headed during their escape. The next stage in relational development is the intensifying stage. The intensifying stage is defined as the point in a relationship where the communicators increase their amount of contact. It is portrayed as Sophie beginning to live in the castle as their cleaning lady. By moving there and involving herself in their

A love language is “a particular notion of what counts as love,” (Adler, et al. 329). The five different love languages listed are words of affirmation, quality time, gift-giving, acts of service, and physical touch. All five love languages are portrayed by either Sophie, Howl, or both throughout the movie. Howl is kind-mannered to Sophie from the moment they meet, portraying his use of words of affirmation. The love language of quality time is displayed when Sophie starts spending more and more time with both Howl and the others. She spends time with Markl by traveling through the portals with him to the towns, she spends time by the fire feeding and interacting with Calcifer, and Howl later brings her to a new place when he reconfigures the portal door. Howl also displays his affection through gift giving as well. He tends to use his magic to perform small favors for Sophie, such as making her dress more appealing for her visit to the palace in his stead; This example could also be used to show how he shows admiration for her through acts of service. Sophie presents her affection through acts of service as well, being she is their live-in cleaning lady in the beginning of their relationship. She offers to be their live-in cleaning lady because she observed the state of the castle upon her arrival and thought it deserved to be