thebaconsandwichofregret:

teacupsandcyanide:

trope subversions i love in Howl’s Moving Castle

• Sophie’s internalised fairytale gender norms and self-imposed expectations, which Howl later directly challenges her about
• Howl initially appearing to be a straight out Byronic Hero until you realise that he’s actually a straight out parody of a Byronic Hero and directly contradicts everything that was ever impractical, one-dimensional, or unbelievable about Byronic Heroes; I can never ever get over this it’s so great
• How often in fairytales like Snow White the heroine arrives in a new household and takes up cleaning responsibilities dutifully - Sophie arrives in a new household, bullies everyone into letting her become their cleaner, and then cleans relentlessly, forcibly, and with angry determination
• Everyone talking about Howl as if he has a tragic backstory and then it turns out he comes from a middle class suburban family in Wales

As someone from a middle class suburban family in Wales let me tell you that this is absolutely a tragic backstory