Hayao Miyazaki’s Criticisms of War

While some may argue that Howl’s Moving Castle did not translate well in the United States due to its perplexing storytelling, I would argue that it did not translate well, especially when it was first released, because of its anti-war messages. Many Americans were in favor of the Iraq War at the time of Howl’s Moving Castle’s release, so its portrayal of the victims of war may have felt like an attack on the United States’ ideologies.

It would be easy to say that Americans wrote off Howl’s Moving Castle because they thought that Studio Ghibli’s way of storytelling was too confusing, however we can see that this isn’t true when we look at the reception of another Studio Ghibli movie, Ponyo, which opened in the United States as number 9 in the box office.

Because of these differences, I believe that Howl’s Moving Castle did not do well because of its criticisms of war. During the time of its release, the Iraq War was going on in which the majority of United States citizens were in favor of. When faced with a movie that highlighted the lives of those affected by war, those who were pro-war would feel as though their ideologies were being attacked.

We can see that throughout the years, however, opinions of the movie had changed. The movie was nominated for Best Animated Film in 2006 in the United States, much different from its original response. This could be due to the fact that public opinion of the Iraq War changed constantly throughout its history. During its release, the war had not been going on as long, however as the years went on, people began to feel less and less optimistic about the war.