Howl's Moving Castle
Like several other Miyazaki films, "Howl's Moving Castle" reflects the director's love of flying. Sequences in the film include both several aircraft of inventive design, as well as Howl transforming into a bird. Miyazaki examines flight as a theme most directly in the later film "The Wind Rises". Miyazaki stated that he was attracted to military aircraft as a child, but that he grew to detest them because of the destructive purpose for which they are created. Thus "Howl's Moving Castle" contains images both of aircraft shown as harmless and beautiful, and large military craft depicted as ugly and destructive. Cavallaro writes that Miyazaki wants to "portray flight as an object of admiration and awe," but that he is not "[blind] to its abuse by unscrupulous strategists and rulers."