From Page to Screen: The Changes of the Ideologies in the Adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle

Abstract

This research is an analysis of ideological changes in the adaptation of the novel Howl's Moving Castle (1986) by Jones which is adapted by Miyazaki (2004) with the same title. The theories used are adaptation theory by Hutcheon and mythology by Barthes. Adaptation theory is used to determine the type of mode of engagement and the motive behind the adaptation. Mythology is applied to analyze the signs of the changing elements in the research object to find the naturalized ideology. This type of research is qualitative research with the primary data taken from the novel and movie adaptation. The data taken from the novel are dialogues and narrations. Meanwhile, the data taken from the movie are images and dialogue. The data taken from the novel and the movie focus on changes in characterization and plot. Secondary data is also used in this research to strengthen the argument of the research results. Secondary data is taken from journal articles, books, and websites that contain information related to the research object and topics discussed. The goals of this research are to discover the ideological changes and motives behind the adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle. The analysis focuses on changes in characterization and plot that are compared between the novel and the movie adaptation. The application of mythology by Barthes, by analyzing the signs in the research object and associating them with the contextual background and society phenomenon, aims to find the naturalized ideology. The result of the sign analysis in the form of naturalized ideology is then used as a tool to determine the adaptation motive according to Hutcheon's categories. The result of this study shows that there is a change in ideology between the novel and the movie adaptation. The ideologies that are found in the novel from the characterization element are firstborn burden, egoism and patriarchy, while the ideologies in the movie adaptation are patriarchy and heroism. The ideologies that change in the plot differences between the novel and movie adaptation are from patriarchy, escapism, Western culture and heroism to the ideologies of heroism, Japanese culture and humanism. The ideology that isfound in the movie adaptations contains a message that the adapter wants to convey to the audience. Based on the ideologies that are discovered in this adaptation work, the motives behind the adaptation are personal-political and cultural capital motives. The messages are the critique of social issues based on the adapter's political views and life experiences about the hatred of war and the social paradox of women in society. The adapter also uses adaptation works as a medium to spread knowledge about the culture of the country he comes from by putting cultural elements in his work.