Excellent First Line. High Expectations From Here On Out.

I love the designs. The colors are nice and the cuts really suit the models.

LIA STUBLLA Couture 2023 if you want to support this blog consider donating to: ko-fi.com/fashionrunways

Christopher died, bitch-

I feel like screaming that at everyone. Saw one person say he didn't matter as much so obviously Cassie would kill him off.

me @ everyone rejoicing that their faves emerged victorious from chain of thorns

That batshit insane toddler from the Future Diary.

“Three wishes, you know the rules. let’s get this over with, kid.” “I wish for an indestructible journal” *snap* “done. Next?” “I wish for it to be bound to my being for all eternity.” *snap* “And?” “I wish that any thing I write into it be made real.” *snap* “THERE, NOW LEA- wait… what?”

It's insane how I made this exact same comparison in the notes of a pro-palestinian post after a zionist replied to it, damn. well said.

do you not realize that jews are indigenous to israel? there is both genetic and archaeological evidence. additionally the reason most jews who lived in europe simply can’t return (where they are not indigenous to anyways) is because their neighbors literally were robbing and raping and killing and turning them into the nazis and other armies that were trying to kill them. it wasn’t just the nazis killing them. and do you know the state of antisemitism in america? jews make up the majority of victims of hate crimes, more than any other minority group in the united states. the fbi releases statistics every year. israel is the only country where they are not subject to outright discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and religion. this is because jews are not white. they are from the levant. if palestinians are not white, and many are actually originally from even further north than israel/palestine (many common last names translate to “the (name of non-arab group formerly colonized by the arabs)), then neither are jews.

yes palestinians are also victims of colonization, by the arabs and british and turks, NOT by israel; who aside from india is the only successful state to have fully decolonized. this does not mean palestinians are treated entirely fairly, but part of this is due to the fact that palestine has an entirely separate government, and israel has fully withdrawn from gaza aside from continuing to provide water and electricity, something they are not required to do as a separate country. egypt does not provide these resources despite also having a blockade set up.

palestine was not peaceful for jews before the establishment of israel. look up any given city or town and the word “pogrom” and you will be met with the story of a systemic killing of jews in that municipality

I’m going to have to use a few examples to explain this.

Romani people are ethnically indigenous to northern India and are currently mostly dispersed thoughout Europe, they were also victims in the holocaust and they are also heavily discriminated against in all parts of the world they live especially in Europe. If, leading up to and after the holocaust a Romani person created a Zionist-like ideology of a Romani ethnostate. If after WWII, with the help of the British they mass immigrated back to northern India as refugees and were welcomed by the indigenous Indians already living there. Would it have been okay for them to then commit their own nakba and colonise a portion of northern India and rename it Romaniland or whatever the fuck?? Start expelling and murdering the Indians that had been living there for generations who also have an ethnic claim to the land? Packing 2 million of them in a 45km squared strip of land and do to them what Israelis are doing to Gazans? Having the fucking audacity to say it’s okay because “they were here first” 1000 years ago? While also somehow simultaneously claiming that there were no people there? “a people without land and a land without people” ??

Did you know that before Zionists settled on Palestine, they also considered Uganda and Argentina for their Zionist state?? The Zionist ideology is inherent to the existence of modern Israel and is the reason it was created, the racism, colonialism, apartheid and genocide is not the fault of a bad government but the foundation of the country itself. The Zionist ideology and genocidal intentions were already in place before they step foot in Palestine and could also be happening right now in Uganda or Argentina instead so don’t try to bullshit that “they were here first” because they would be doing this regardless of the location.

Palestinians are victims of Israeli colonisation as we can see with our own eyes right this moment and literally how dare you even say that. Also you know who else is killed and discriminated against everywhere in the world they go? Women, gay people, disabled people, Romani people, this wouldn’t justify any of these groups creating their own apartheid state anywhere in the world and start doing what Israelis are currently doing.

I want to make it clear that in the process of the Israeli state returning the land to Palestine and ceasing to exist, not one single person needs to be harmed or killed, a lot of them won’t even have to leave the country and can just live in Palestine, amongst Palestinian people of all religions including Jewish, as they did when they first arrived after WWII. If Romani people also wanted to move back to northern India without colonising it and creating an apartheid state this would also be completely okay fucking obviously. Modern Israel is not the Israel from the bible. Every piece of land on earth is already belonging to an existing country and you cannot create a new one without occupying another. Sucks but that’s the reality. Have a terrible day.

Ah yes, puki's a whole ass junglebook.

why do i feel like you're jungkook.

I am definitely junghook

I love her, your honor.

Coven Evelynn by Amekoi

K-pop is the best example for me. Look at how many saesangs are there. The idol contracts are so strenuous that they are dubbed as slave contracts. They aren't allowed to date as they and the people they date will be harassed by fans. Imagine thinking you are entitled to a person's private life just because they chose to be a k-pop idol and that they shouldn't date as they belong to you. A lot of idols face this. It's so stupid.

Parasocial relationships aren’t inherently unhealthy. Usually, they’re a perfectly normal and healthy way to experience media. You know what are examples of parasocial relationships?

Kids dressing up in costumes and pretending to be the sidekick of their favorite superhero.

Teens daydreaming about hanging out with members of their favorite band.

Adults reading a funny memoir and finding they now feel positively and care about the wellbeing of the person who wrote it.

Sports fans celebrating because their favorite team won a championship.

Watching a talent show and cheering when your favorite performer wins.

These are enjoyable and typically harmless experiences. Because relationships (parasocial included) are not inherently healthy or unhealthy–it all depends on the parties involved, and the behavior on both sides.

Parasocial relationships become unhealthy when we as audience members over-invest emotionally, fail to set proper boundaries, have unfair/unrealistic expectations or make intrusive demands (for individual attention, for emotional reciprocation, for the other party to serve as a best friend, a lover, a savior, a therapist), or engage in harassment when these expectations are not met. Or, alternatively, when the person/group/corporation on the other end misleads their audience, or uses their influence irresponsibly or exploitatively, or makes promises they cannot follow through on.

Unfortunately, we are seeing a rise in most of these things, in part because the way we consume media has changed very very quickly, and we as a culture have not had enough time to react sanely to these changes and establish healthy behavioral norms around them.

Many of us are struggling with how the illusion of intimacy has hyperevolved—the faces we once saw only on theatre screens and magazines, celebrities who were so removed from us by distance and medium, are now on our phones, in our homes, sharing their private lives with us in previously unimaginable detail. Instead of scripted interviews & crafted photoshoots, we get casual selfies & tweets & constant updates about their clothes & food & activities & private lifestyles. We get videos of celebrities talking to their camera (to us) directly from their own home—as if we are being invited inside. All of this happening on the very same social media platforms and in the same language we use to communicate with friends. Of course our brains are going to get confused, especially if we haven’t been taught how to draw the right boundaries when it comes to watching people in the spotlight.

And most of us haven’t.

Which leads us to what I think is the real problem—not parasocial relationships but Celebrity Culture. This whole culture we’ve been building for decades around inappropriate and invasive interest in the private lives of public figures. Celebrity & paparazzi culture has always encouraged deeply unhealthy patterns of behavior, and it’s been around a lot longer than the internet. But the attitudes it embodies have become the basis for how we treat and think about “famous” people online, and for the shape that parasocial relationships take in the social media age.

The problem isn’t that we’re forming parasocial relationships. Humans will always form parasocial relationships. Jesus christ, religion itself probably fits the definition of a parasocial relationship—what is more parasocial than inventing a god? The problem is that we are forming these relationships without a clear understanding of what constitutes healthy boundaries, reasonable expectations, and appropriate behavior, on all sides. Form as many parasocial relationships as you like, but figure out how to keep them healthy. Manage your expectations, be respectful of privacy, be aware of when you are becoming too involved, know when to step back, and don’t expect it to take the place of interpersonal relationships—your relationships with people who know you exist, and want to reciprocate your time, energy, and interest.

ko-fi

I did not like this. I wanna cry now. I'm never going on tiktok.

these should be considered animal abuse

Awe-inspiring art. What software do you use for this and how do you get such good renditions of their faces?

05.24.2022

The Star, The Moon, The Sun

Very important analysis. Please read it.

Infectious Bias: Discrimination of Mundanes in the Shadowhunter World

Introduction

As we all know already, the Clave is said to be discriminatory against all non-Nephilim races. While this fantasy-racism is shown to be extremer in unnamed parts of the Clave and fascist groups, with a keen eye it is also noticeable in Shadowhunters that are supposed to be good. This is sometimes more subtly shown (like in The Last Hours), sometimes more overt (like in The Mortal Instruments). 

I am very confident that Cassandra Clare wrote a lot of this on purpose, since those bias are  often pointed out by characters who are outsiders to the Nephilim, like Simon and Kit and it is too well made and too structurally planned to be part of her own biases. Nonetheless, this is often only between the lines, since stories are primarily written from a Shadowhunter-perspective, which makes identifying these prejudices in the main characters a bit harder. We are often getting fed prejudices more as a matter of fact than a bias.

Often a Downworlder will point out discrimination and a Shadowhunter main character will react  defensively by saying that the Clave is like that but not all Shadowhunter, not realising that because they themselves grew up in a fantasy-racist society they are thus heavily influenced by the ideas and values of this society - including its discrimination and prejudices. There are only few Shadowhunters who seem to be aware of their own fantasy-racism and reevaluate how they see non-Nephilim races.

So I want to analyse those subtle prejudices and situations in a few posts. I’m calling this little series of analyses Infectious Bias, because Cassandra Clare shows very well how fascist ideology and white supremacist ideas can poison and infect all parts of a society, not just those who are outright fascist and hateful.

As a start, I want to talk a bit about how mundanes are treated by Shadowhunters. Mostly, because they are not actively harmed by the Nephilim unlike Downworlders which will make this analysis a lot shorter. 

Hypocrisy of the Main Characters

In this analysis as well as the following I will focus on the main characters, who are supposed to be good. Talking about the wider Shadowhunter Society would take too long, as there are too many aspects too address. Also, since most of the fantasy racism of the larger Nephilim culture is pretty “on the nose” like the separation into Shadowhunter and potential Ascendants at the Academy, I don’t think it’s worth the mention as it is quite obvious even the first time reading a Shadowhunter Chronicles book.

Infantilisation of Mundanes - Tales from Nathaniel Gray and Axel Mortmain 

In the Infernal Devices, there are several mundane characters who are treated differently depending on their involvement in the Shadowworld. There is more intelligence ascribed to Sighted mundanes than to non-Sighted mundanes, even though they still aren’t considered to be eye-to-eye with the Nephilim and getting employed as their servants, even though their Sight is a powerful ability. This makes them able to see through the glamour without being identified as a Shadowhunter because of their lack of Shadowhuntesque traits like graceful movements or runic marks. Of course a person should never be valued based on how useful they are to a culture. This comparison is simply about the fact that Sighted mundanes are employed as servants rather than for Shadowhunting, although that is not always the case, as Thomas helped Henry and Will to break into the Dark House. 

The main characters state several times that Nephilim have higher physical abilities (agility, swiftness, speed, strength, endurance) than mundanes. This means that they consider themselves to be biologically superior to mundanes in fighting, even though we see that this is not necessarily true, as Bridget is able to beat Gabriel, who is supposed to be a lot stronger than her. So we can see that this alleged physical superiority is not real but instead a bias of the main characters against mundanes. 

Not just the mundanes physical ability gets questioned, also their intelligence. A good example here are Nate and Mortmain. The Shadowhunters of the Institute think that they are not intelligent enough to navigate the Shadowworld (and tell horror tales of people who tried to play with the occult and disregarded warnings), blinded by their fascination with magic, unable to make their own choices. They think they are too weak and unknowing to cause actual harm by themselves or be able to have any evil inside them. In short: they infantilise them and associate an inherent innocence to their race. Charlotte and Henry don’t even consider Mortmain to be able to be cunning enough to have any ulterior motive or plans, which turns out to be a fatal mistake.

They talk about mundanes in the Pandemonium club and how easily they are to influence and impress, losing all of their money on gambling with magic. While they consider this to be tragic, they don’t actually act to help mundanes who befall this fate, if they are not acquaintances to them like Nate.

Except Will, there is no one who is distrusting of Nate in the beginning. While they think that he knows more than what he shows, they don’t even think about the possibility that he could be lying or hateful. This again shows the ascribed inherent innocence.

 Even after he betrays them, they see him as a manipulated victim, a blinded child rather than an adult making his own choices, as their view of Mortmain shifts to him being a Magician and evil master manipulator instead of a generic mundane. Though this part is heavily influenced by Tessa’s perspective, who probably sees the situation a bit differently since she is trying to cope with the loss of her brother. Other characters are a lot more sceptic and feel guilty for not realising the trickery earlier. 

Mortmain also points out the main characters’ foolishness in underestimating him because he is a mundane. This underlines that the Nephilims superiority complex against mundanes was purposefully written. 

City of Condescension 

Let’s talk about Simon and the Lightwoods. Honestly, there is so much to unpack here. Jace outright bullies Simon for most part of the Mortal Instruments, though the support in this from his peers is varying. Because this is such a huge topic, I will address this in a separate analysis, as putting light onto all aspects of this bullying would take too much space in this analysis.

I think Simon is a is a great example because it shows how they would behave with a stranger:  People usually care less about strangers - even though they don’t necessarily value them less -  because they don’t know them. Thus, they don’t care as much about hurting their feelings: they put more effort in helping the people that they love and cherish. 

The Lightwood kids treat Simon as expendable in the first book. From this we can assume that they treat mundanes that they don’t have an emotional attachment to generally as expendable. The only reason that Jace helped to save Simon is that Clary pressured him to. He only saved him to appease her, not because he wanted to do the right thing or because his vows to protect mundanes as a Shadowhunter. I will come back to the expendability later, when I will talk about Thomas and Agatha for a bit. 

 Of course, with the Lightwoods and Simon, there are also a lot of personal feelings going on: Isabelle is scared of men and getting hurt, building a large wall around herself and dropping guys when things get too serious. Jace is in some way jealous of Simon even though there is little reason since he knows that Clary is neither attracted to him nor is he in Jace’ eyes ‘competition’, calling him the most mundane mundane. Alec has the least interaction with Simon, but he is both distrustful and jealous of Clary in the first book as well as having a drive to please and copy Jace, which makes him automatically hostile to Simon. 

 The Lightwoods are angsty, hostile and irrational teenagers with little compassion for anyone outside of their social group. While they become a lot better and mature people with time, I wouldn’t necessarily consider them to be good people in the first few books. It is also important to note that they were brought up by four fascists and former fascists who definitely didn’t fully examine all the fascism they have internalised. We especially see this in Jace, who perpetrates a lot of fantasy-racism, both micro- and macro- aggressions throughout the books, often under the cover of being a angsty sarcastic teenager.

While Isabelle manifests her dislike in mundanes in apathy over their well-being rather than aggression, Jace and Alec outright bully Simon. Now this isn’t just about him being a mundane but also rather personal, but because it’s such a huge part of the books I still want to at least address it here.

While Alec makes only fun of Simon in the first book in an attempt to please Jace, Jace continues to bully him later, first for being mundane, afterwards for being a vampire.

Examples for this bullying are trying to make him feel inferior by calling him “mundane” rather than his name and using the word mundane always with condescension, even though they use his name in his absence and obviously know it. 

They tell him that he should be grateful to be inside the Institute as not many mundanes are bestowed with that honour, as if he wasn’t worthy to know of their world. During dinner, Alec and Jace even kick Simon out of the Institute for standing up to Jace playing white knight for Clary in face of meeting the Silent Brothers. Clary meanwhile doesn’t even bat an eye. This is an especially humiliating scene that was hard to read, but it’s neither the first nor the last one: They ridicule him for being attracted to Isabelle, calling him pathetic for meeting her, telling her in front of him that he wants to sleep with her. Jace also ridicules his physical appearance behind his back, calling him weasel-faced and so ugly that he looks like a rat (which is also later shown to have been foreshadowing).

This isn’t the end of it: at every possibility they signal Simon that he isn’t welcome and they don’t care about him, his questions or his opinions. While Simon isn’t any less hostile in his reaction, the Shadowhunter teens are in a position of power over him, given that they are allegedly “superior” magical beings and he doesn’t know anything about the Shadowworld, as well as Jace and Alec being in the majority and no one really defending him.

Simon is not seen as a human being with a soul, inherent value and feelings which they could hurt. They rather see him as Clary’s pet. Even Isabelle, who spends a lot of time with him, meeting him in the morning, going with him to the park for the whole day… considers him suddenly to be expendable when he becomes a rat, acting like it wasn’t their responsibility to take care of him in their world, which he doesn’t know how to navigate. She also doesn’t even really consider him a potential romantic partner before he becomes a vampire, though there is also a lot of fetishisation  of vampires involved.

While they claim no accountability, they still infantilise him, treating him like a child who needs a babysitter: because he is a mundane, not because he is new to this world. They don’t treat Clary with the same infantilisation, showing her more or less respectfully how to navigate the Shadowworld. Even though they acknowledge that she needs help, they don’t act as if she was dumb. This shows that they believe the stereotype mentioned earlier, that a mundane is both less intelligent than a Shadowhunter as well as more innocent and naïve. 

These examples of bullying and conflict are only from the first few hundred pages of City of Bones. While there is a lot more to unpack, I don’t want to go much further or deeper in the books here. The reason for this is the amount of personal issues between the characters that fuel this conflict, not just fantasy-racism. 

Though it is still worth a mention: I want to thank @theprodigalgenius for pointing out to me that in City of Glass, Simon asks them why they hate mundanes so much, to which Jace responds by making fun of him. Sebastian points that they feel left out since they can’t tell the world about their duty and don’t get any acknowledgement for their hard work. Isabelle feels resentment towards mundanes because they never grew up in fear of suddenly losing a loved one. 

We can see a lot of jealousy here shining through for what they consider a life of comfort. They cover this up with a feeling of superiority, twisting the longing for comfort into an arrogance about the mundanes alleged weakness and laziness. Though we know a mundane life isn’t actually more comfortable or happy than that of a Shadowhunter, as the history of Sophie shows. 

Of course, none of this jealousy or resentment excuse the disrespect and apathy against those very vulnerable people they are sworn to protect.  

 Clockwork Expendability - in Loving Memory of Agatha and Thomas

Clockwork Prince and City of Bones show us that it is not important to save or protect individual mundanes from dying. Mundanes are replaceable, Shadowhunter are not. The Nephilim are not supposed to grieve, even less for mundanes. 

The Codex even states that crimes against mundanes and Downworlders are punished less harshly than crimes against other Shadowhunters because they’re less Shadowhunters in the world. This means in their view a mundane life is less important, expendable. Going after demons who endanger more than just one mundane is more important than saving individuals except if this individual is a Shadowhunter. While this is the attitude of the Clave, the main characters also show aspects of this mindset. 

An example are Will and Jem. They grew up with Thomas, trained by his side, yet they don’t really grieve when he dies. While most of the Nephilim of the Institute feel guilty, all thinking they could’ve prevented Thomas and Agathas deaths, only one other person, Sophie, a fellow mundane, mourns them and misses them for a longer time period. For everyone else, the dead servants are already replaced and half-forgotten in the middle of the second book. 

Mundanes being considered replaceable is even shown in a bizarre allegory in the guise of Thomas brother. Cyril looks exactly like Thomas and acts similar as well. As if there were vast amounts of Thomases in the world. And if one dies, he is just switched out for a new one, no one really noticing his absence. Of course Tessa and Sophie notice his absence despite this metaphor, but it comes in the form of the discomfort they feel because of the eery resemblance to Thomas, as if he never really died.

Ascension - You’re Better Than This

I will ignore everything else fucked up with Ascension, like the law against intermarriage etc. because that’s part of the wider culture. This is about the opinions of the main characters. 

While it’s never explicitly stated, in the end of Clockwork Princess and in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy it becomes rather clear:  Mundanes who are heroes (like Simon or Sophie) should Ascend because they’re better people than most mundanes, worthy of being a Shadowhunter. It would be a waste of their life not to ascend, they’re too good to spend a life as a mundane. The message is clear: a mundane life has no value. Not just that a mundane who dies is replaceable, but also that there is no worth in being a mundane and spending your life in a “mundane-lifestyle”.

In City of Bones, Alec and Isabelle even openly admit that they don’t see Downworlders really as people and that while mundanes are “weak”, they are in their eyes still better than Downworlders because they have the possibility to ascend, to become one of them, to be a Shadowhunters. Of course they later change their worldview, but a lot of these opinions are still ingrained in them. 

Conclusion - I’m Running Out of Bad Wordplays 

While Shadowhunters are supposed to protect mundanes, they see this as a rule to protect humanity as a whole and not individuals. They don’t consider it as important to save mundanes as to kill demons, thinking that the offence against demons will save mundanes automatically. Also they see mundanes as inferior to their own race, both physically and mentally, while ascribing a form of romanticised innocence and comfort to their being.