No One:

No one:

Me: FINE I guess I have to write a Howl’s Moving Castle live-action, book-accurate mini-series script ALL BY MYSELF

Much Ado About Nothing but with Shakespeare’s Play-Within-a-Play Trope

So, instead of shaming her at the altar, Claudio ropes Don Pedro in putting on a play and it goes exactly like this (with Claudio playing Hero in this exact manner)

Chaotic love interests who are just as likely to kiss as they are to verbally rip the other to shreds is my kind of thing

Also if you want to read headcanons for a Much Ado AU with the HMC crew: https://muchadorks.tumblr.com/post/622847792341303296/i-need-a-howls-moving-castle-much-ado-about

Book Howl and Sophie have strong Beatrice and Benedick energy.

I just love the book so much, man

forgot to say that, without Howl chasing girls and Sophie resenting him for it, the film completely erases part of the point of Sophie being old.  Wynne Jones is using an idea that Beauvoir talked about - that being an old woman is both tragic (as we lose male attention/attractiveness) and freeing (as we are freed from the male gaze).  the idea is that with being old comes liberation, and the true meaning of what it is to be a woman, as society no longer forces gender norms on us.

Sophie is free from Howl’s attentions and therefore safe from harm (a big part of the book is the fact that Sophie believes he eats women’s hearts, and him chasing girls proves this to her).  she takes solace in the fact that she’s old, and finds it freeing.  when she learns more about Howl (notably: that he doesn’t eat hearts and that he’s not evil), she starts to curse her age and resent him chasing girls.  BUT she remains old OF HER OWN VOLITION - Howl notes that she’s perpetuating the spell by wishing to remain “in disguise”.  there are SO many layers to this, and lots to do with gender politics - if she’s still old Sophie can’t get hurt, she likes the freedom, etc.  but of course on a personal level being old is her denying her feelings for Howl, and also a representation of her low self esteem - being old is a defence mechanism and protection, both on a gender level and a personal one.

and the film kinda… loses this?  the only thing that remains is being old = low self esteem.  which really sucks.  because there’s SO MUCH MORE to Sophie being old in the book (perspective I already mentioned), and a HUGE amount of this is gender politics.  that the film just erases.

Good folk/jazz/swing music recs?

I’m trying to find some jazzy folk music for a friend who swing dances. We don’t overlap on music a ton, but I showed them “Curses” by the Crane Wives and they absolutely loved it! I’m trying to put a playlist together of potential music (some Hadestown songs are already on there), but I need some ideas.

Any suggestions?

Anyone who says this isn’t canon is a liar