Latest Posts by theprodigalgenius - Page 4

So is Nami an ally or one of the gays??

They did it againnnn! I'm so happyy i can't!!!!😭😩❤️ They're so beautiful and SUPER CANON😭🥺

The footwork is immaculate and point-perfect.

look at his footwork!

what a great day to be a huge lesbian

They absolutely should which is exactly why they won't. The only thing that keeping me calm rn is that Akali is getting her first ever legendary as a corrupted star guardian on PC because that's creative and she's my main.

Redeemed Star Guardian Xayah & Rakan - Wild Rift Splash Art ✨

Vi: First of all, I'm a lesbian. I don't have to understand.

This meme was brought to you by the innate obliviousness that comes with sapphic feelings.

"𝙤𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮" start playing in the background*

Thetis said so.

odysseus: this is a great opportunity! who says u can't go to the war?

achilles:

All the fans of "The remarried empress"

what’s the opposite of “i ship it”? i don’t mean anti-shipping i mean more along the lines of “this couple got together in canon and i want front rows seats to their future bloody bloody divorce“

Reblog if this sight on your blog makes you smile and you would like your followers to talk to you more. 

It's so weird when people say that these western stories are very inclusive, they have people from every race yet they don't include Indian people who migrate and settle in all developed countries over the world. You'll find loads of us in America, Singapore, UAE, Western Europe and even China, South-East Asia and South-Asian countries. We are everywhere yet are somehow almost always ignored or added as a second thought.

no but i am actually going to cry. grover being played by a desi actor will forever make me cry as a desi person who never saw himself in pjo because there weren’t any desi characters because this is THE representation we need

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.

My mom's energy towards me when I was 5

#anya forger being dramatic 😂

Lmfao Anya don't say that.

The very elegant Forgers family ✧ SPY X FAMILY EPISODE 4

As a fellow Indian, I agree and hope Kamala doesn't get this treatment.

stop whitewashing cordelia.

actually i have been thinking about this since last night so i need to post. this is the latest official art that was commissioned and shared by CC. and cordelia does NOT look like a woman of colour.

THEIR SKIN TONES ARE LIKE BARELY ONE SHADE APART. i am SO mad that there are STILL whitewashed artworks being shared by CC. especially with cordelia, where there is a history of whitewashed artworks, as you can see.

now compare all these with these two art pieces and tell me they're all the same person.

let me illustrate further. in the cordelia and james art, at least a contrast can be seen between the colours of their skin. in the matthew and cordelia art, their skin tones look the same.

and i'm not much of an artist, but i do know with certainty that it's not because of the "lighting" or whatever.

cordelia is simply whitewashed in this art piece and we need to call it what it is. and this is not ok.

EDIT: please read my reblogs in the notes before commenting.

By the angel, FINALLY

Ah, how nice to see the problem spelt out with coherence. I agree with this. Love the vibe not the likes.

this whole situation is very funny

credit to @cryptvokeeper for the idea!

My brains is so strong. Holy shit another  THOUGHT IS COMINGGGGG HHHH RAHHHHHHHHHGHHGHGG

I don't know why people are insulting all kpop stans since Elon decided to buy Twitter. Look at the kpop community here. All you will find are translators for tweets, People who repost the idol's tweets or posts on their blog for Tumblr people to see, people who hold civil conversations about cultural appropriation, fanfic writers, artists, people who share gifs or videos of concerts or funny moments and other stans who simply appreciate kpop idols.

Not all stans are delusional. It's just that there are some people on Twitter who have gone completely overboard in support of these idols. If you are worried about them then clarify that it's the kpop twiterrati that you don't want. Don't insult everyone in the kpop community just because you have the wrong notion about them.

Take @bang-tan, @blackpinkofficial, @bangtanmemesarchive, @blackpink @jenniekimblackpink , @bangtancorrect as an example. They are perfectly civil and have fun with their blog (except for @blackpinkofficial which is a now dead blog but was nice to have)

~Matthew Fairchild's ghost (allegedly to Emma and Julian in a rant)

If someone called me a ten, I'd take it as the greatest insult ever. I'm an infinity. Everyone knows that.

If someone called me a ten, I'd take it as the greatest insult ever. I'm an infinity. Everyone knows that.

The most epic crossover in the history of the kpop fandoms of blackpink and itzy on Tumblr

Hi I’m really sorry to bother you with this but do you know why itzy’s voltage isnt out on iTunes in the US? I really want to get it & listen to it but it still hasn’t been released :(

.....did you check our blog url before sending this?

Tama and legacy

Source

Video of Tama

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

First of all, what stuff did they remove or refurbish from Jordelia's house to accommodate the sightseeing throngs? What's gone and what's left?

Also Rupert just trying his best to get Jemma to poke around in the right direction:

This is great 👍

Kraig’s Retirement Party is about to get absolutely WILD this week 👀

As @bookishjules and I prepare to break down Julian’s letter to Magnus and all the theories that come with it, catch up with last week’s episode where we ranted about inconsistencies, our favorite crack ship, what Rupert being the ghost means for both the story and the enchantment and everything inbetween!

Oh, and we did A LOT of SoBHing.

If you have any theories, thoughts or questions, send them our way! We want to know all of them!

Reminder! This is our first episode, so bear with us as we fumble through editing and recording. We’ll get better as we go, swear on the Angel!

Here it is.

I plan to draw Kamala Joshi in a Nauvari sari. I feel it would suit her and hope @cassandraclare can include this in her story or maybe @cassandrajp can also draw her in this attire. I was born and raised in Mumbai so I’m very excited at the prospect of my city being included in a series I love. The Nauvari ( Nine yards of fabric) is also referred to as the Kaashta or Lugade. It is a traditional sari of the state of Maharashtra and Mumbai is the state capital. Unlike other sarees, the Nauvari is built to mirror the traditional trousers that men wore and is made to be comfortable and easy to move in. It was also the staple of the Maratha clan of fighters, which was a clan that rivalled the Mughals in power and firmly established guerrila warfare training in their soldiers. 

I plan to draw Kamala Joshi in a Nauvari sari. I feel it would suit her and hope @cassandraclare can include this in her story or maybe @cassandrajp can also draw her in this attire. I was born and raised in Mumbai so I’m very excited at the prospect of my city being included in a series I love. The Nauvari ( Nine yards of fabric) is also referred to as the Kaashta or Lugade. It is a traditional sari of the state of Maharashtra and Mumbai is the state capital. Unlike other sarees, the Nauvari is built to mirror the traditional trousers that men wore and is made to be comfortable and easy to move in. It was also the staple of the Maratha clan of fighters, which was a clan that rivalled the Mughals in power and firmly established guerrila warfare training in their soldiers. 

If you clean the vacuum cleaner, you are the vacuum cleaner cleaner.

So, a vacuum cleaner cleaner makes the vacuum cleaner cleaner.

Saw this and wanted to sketch, so I did.

Looks alright ig.

*Screaming from the cuteness*

FOUND THIS GEM IN MY INSTAGRAM ADS???

Looks like something out of a fantasy

Favourite Designs: Sandy Nour ‘Juste un Coquelicot’ Ready-to-Wear Collection

My cats have decided that it is acceptable behavior to rile up the fish by tapping on the aquarium glass. It's a group and solo activity for them.