#tmi meta

[ash-morgensterns]

We know that Clary Fairchild found out about her secret identity as Shadowhunter, that she fought and won two wars, and even rid the world of half of her family (slay queen). But what else was going on in the States in 2007? Here's a list:

Bush was president.

Wearing a thousand layers was considered fashion.

Also fake tan.

Ugg Boots, flats, and sneakers (especially Converse).

Denim everywhere.

Famous Disney Channel shows airing included: Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and The Emperor's New School.

That's so Raven and Kim Possible aired their last season.

Phineas and Ferb, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Cory in the House aired their first season.

High School Musical 2, Enchanted, and Ratatouille came out.

More movies: Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 300, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Nickelodeon, on the other hand, offered: Zoey 101, Totally Spies, Lazy Town, H2O: Just Add Water, and Spongebob.

Icarly's first season aired.

Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, Danny Phantom, Drake & Josh ended.

And then Cartoon Network: Ben 10, Teen Titans, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Ed, Edd n Eddy, George of the Jungle.

Some songs that came out that year included: "Umbrella" by Rihanna & Jay-Z, "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse, "No One" by Alicia Keys, "Don't Stop the Music" by Rihanna, "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne, "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood.

'New Moon' the second book in the Twilight Series came out.

Twitter and YouTube had just recently been created.

My Space was a thing.

The website Tumblr was launched.

The Naruto anime aired.

Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians also premiered that year.

The Final "Harry Potter" Book: Deathly Hallows released.

The first iPhone came out.

The popular cellphone was the Motorola RAZR.

Netflix began streaming content.

Paris Hilton ended up in prison for violating probation and driving with a suspended license.

Lindsay Lohan was arrested for drug possession.

Britney Spears had her meltdown at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Ariana Grande joined YouTube at 13 years old.

[bishopsbelova]

What gets me is that people only focus on the "incest" of tmi but they don't look at the fact that it was just a grown ass man manipulating two 16 year olds for his own personal gain.

The entire story arc of the first three books is Valentine trying (and well failing because they’re like fuck you) to force a wedge between Clary and Jace, to make Jace believe that there’s something wrong with him. Because Valentine has been mentally, verbally, physically and emotionally abusing Jace for ten years of his life.

But the really fucked up thing is; Valentine technically wasn’t lying. because while Stephen is Jace’s biological father; Valentine was his father since he “raised” him. 

I know the movie isn’t exactly canon but like there’s a scene in it that always stuck out to me. And it’s about an hour and a half in between Hodge and Valentine. 

Hodge tells Valentine: “If you lie and tell them they’re both you’re children, you’ll break their hearts. 

To which Valentine responds: “What can I say, the broken makes the best followers.” 

And I always just saw the scene in the books where Valentine says that to them, as him just trying an manipulation tactic to get Jace to stay on his side. 

[takeseffort-a]

Alec’s Bow;

Alec uses a 68″ custom recurve bow made of yew harvested from the Iberian peninsula. The yew is significant because of it’s dark heartwood (for compression) & white sapwood (for tension). Given his height, the near unwieldy size of the bow is necessary to accommodate his draw length, & given his targets, it lends itself well to its custom adjustable draw weight of 55-70lbs (necessitated by target/depending). The bow is runed, as well - flexibility & reinforcement runes decorate the areas between the top & bottom tiller & limbs, compensating for the bow’s sheer size, & the grip is adorned with stability & accuracy runes. To complete the package, he uses 32″ electrum tipped arrows. 

Additional notes; his bow is additionally enhanced & supported by his personal rune placement, which works in tandem with his ocular dominance (left eye) - his accuracy rune on his left left shoulder & angelic power rune on his left forearm help steady his hold on it, while the strength rune on his right arm, coupled with the gift/talent & equilibrium runes on the right side of his back helps balance & enable the draw weight. The flexibility rune in the middle of his back helps keep those muscles limber & prevents strain induced by the draw weight. 

[leianaberrie]

Jordan x Maia - my 2 cents

This will be incoherent because I need to take a nap soon...

Anyone who’s read the book knows their story, and their history. Lots of parallels were drawn between:

Jordan’s actions to Maia when he was turned (against his will, without knowing what he had become) and Simon feeding from Maureen (because he’d gone without blood, even though he knew what he was etc); 

Jordan’s violence to Maia as a result of his werewolf side rising and basically giving him momentary schizophrenia and Jace’s kidnapping and holding a knife to Clary as a result of Lilith’s possession spell.

We’re consistently told that his actions towards Maia in the weeks between being bitten and his first turning... are not in his nature. We’re told he’s devoted to her. She constantly makes the first move in furthering their relationship after they reunite - first kiss from her, first heavy-petting, first sex (#dirtysexyshowerscene), etc. 

At no point in time is this relationship an abusive one, where Maia is “bullied” or feels “pressured” or “uncomfortable” around him.

She tells him, under no compulsion or compunction, that she loves him.

Suddenly in book 6 for whatever reason (fan backlash possibly, author’s implicit biases probably), we’re told that Maia never loved Jordan, and wanted to end their relationship.

He also gets murdered by Sebastian, for the record. (Which I’m certain was planned from the start).

When I have time, I’ll probably go into how this is symptomatic of the trend in fandom to condemn stories like this where the female LI is a WOC, but are tolerant or indifferent of stories where the female LI is a white woman.  

Simon nearly kills Maureen because of his own arrogance (not wanting to be a vampire and drink regularly, when he is in fact, a vampire) but this is framed as somewhat her fault (for being his stalker/crush), she gets completely demonized after the fact and he ends up with Isabelle (a white woman) without this ever being an issue or stumbling block in their relationship. 

Jace has increasingly violent dreams of hurting Clary for months after his resurrection and he keeps them to himself, escalating them. It’s only when he actually stabs her while love-making that he confesses them. She is understanding of his ‘possession’ and helps him get help. Later he kidnaps Clary (a white woman) and holds her at knife-point, at an instance, he even cuts - but we’re told over and over again, that this is not Jace, he was possessed, etc. Jocelyn is the voice of reason - reminding Clary that she’s consistently hurt by/for Jace - but Clary (and the reader) are infuriated with Jocelyn for over-simplifying the circumstances in which he hurts her. Later on, Clary will willingly join a still-possessed Jace and her evil brother, determined to get Jace back to “himself” even though there is no guarantee that Jace will not hurt her. And this is scene as a reckless but passionate indication of her great love for him.

Now, I’m not saying that either Simon or Jace should be condemned for actions that were - a mistake, and out of their control. (Although you can argue that Simon should not have gone without blood for that long and he knew better because everyone had repeatedly warned him and Jace should not have kept his dreams about segueing from making out with Clary to murdering her to himself). But we suspend disbelief appropriate for a genre filled with the supernatural that in these circumstances, the man is not to blame for his violence.

Yet somehow, despite all the explanations in text, that Jordan’s actions were: uncharacteristic, the result of a werewolf bite that he didn’t understand, he felt remorseful and tried in every way to make it up to her, and become a better man in turn (What exactly did Simon do to make up for biting Maureen and eventually causing her to be turned?)... fandom and the canon still condemn him. He dies brutally, as canon fodder; and he doesn’t even have Maia’s love. 

It’s also worth nothing that of the three female LIs in these dynamic - Isabelle, Clary and Maia - Clary is the most vulnerable as she is an unskilled Shadowhunter. Yet she is in potentially the most dangerous relationship. Meanwhile, Maia, a bad-ass werewolf in her own right, who probably has the tamest of the three men (Simon is still an unstable vampire; Jace is possessed; while Jordan is - in the words of Woolsey Scot - the “most promising” graduate of the Academy of Downworlder Sober Companions) is the one who is constantly depicted in fandom as being in an abusive relationship and in desperate need of saving. 

And this would all be random if fandom didn’t have this consistent urge to “protect” women of colour from the same relationships which might seem noble on the surface, but the end result is that these relationships become the exclusive purview of white women. Like someone once said, is it really about these relationships not  being good enough for the WoC? Or about the WoC not being good enough for these relationships?

Post-Script:

Maia eventually ends up with Bat Velasquez, a side-side character. We don’t read about how they get together, their first date, their first time. He is so insignificant person that I had to Wiki him to get his last name. They might still be together in The Dark Artifices Book 1, but if they were, the story never mentions it. (Although we do know that Simon & Isabelle are engaged; Jace proposed to Clary; and Alec and Magnus are raising a baby together). 

[iwritesnortsintragedies]

Can I just say that I do not buy the bond between Jace and Alec in the show? Especially in the first season, because for me it came across as horribly one-sided and Jace himself seemed to disregard Alec and his opinions at EVERY opportunity and/or blame him for things which were not Alec's fault. I was wondering about your thoughts on Jace in general and the whole dynamic he had with Alec.

Honestly, my thoughts about Jace pretty much align with yours. He could be an interesting character--not groundbreaking, because he’s still a White Boy With Tragic Past (tm) but interesting, certainly--if the writers played off his struggles for acceptance and his insecurities rather than his douchebagery.

In the show, even more than in the books, Jace is an extremely entitled person who generally disregards any and everyone who isn’t him, and any and everything that isn’t what he wants to do. Sure, it’s framed as 'I want to protect you’ and sprinkled with one or two grand declarations along the lines of ‘Alec is the most important person in my life’ [cue Jace being an ass to Alec]...but at the end of the day, in the show, Jace has

Thrown Clary into the hands of a sexual predator with the power to hypnotise her into submission (and immediately used the guy’s behavior as a pretext to a) start a ight, b) ‘claim’ Clary as his girl before they were in a real relationship and c) put himself in a position where he could have tried to go for the ‘be thankful to me’ route, which thankfully wasn’t done)

Disobeyed Alec’s orders and instructions at every pretty much every turn, even though Alec is supposed to be his bos and AND he’s honestly got the better brain here

Canonically admitted he was pulling Alec along on a leash (literally: when Simon tells him as much, Jace goes ‘takes one to know one’)

And that’s without going into the hypocrisy with which he treats Downworlders, mostly because pretty much all Shadowhunters characters fall prey to that.

In my opinion, Jace is a shitty friend and an even shittier parabatai (though in the character’s defense, the parabatai thing is kind of a cheap-drama-inducing bad joke, both in the book and in the show) and since you can’t exactly re-make him from the ground up now that the show has started, he really needs to get slapped in the face a couple of times, both metaphorically and literally.

(PS: I know this isn’t very detailed, it’s been a while since I got my nose in Shadowhunters as a full entity, and I’m too tired to remember the S2 episodes in detail right now. My opinion still stands, though.)

[bravemercutio]

A ship by any other name

Tbh I keep going back to the fact that, while not all of them are truly “their last name,” or wanted, Clary could potentially lay claim to more last names by the end of the series than Jace ever could have, and especially by the end of COHF. Look at it

Jace:

Wayland - Not truly his last name legally or genetically, but a name he goes by at one point.

Morgenstern - Again, not a name he could really claim by CoHF, but  used for a while

Herondale - Legally, genetically sound, used by the end of the series

Lightwood - Legally, adoptively sound, used by the end of the series

So four in total, two by the end of the series, makes up names Jace could have, or could be called by.

Clary:

Fray - name she was born to, still legally her last name in the mundane world.

Fairchild - Her mother’s nephilim surname, also her nephilim surname, she uses this too

Morgenstern - She could totally use this if she wanted. She doesn’t, as it’s her father’s surname, she could.

Garroway - She doesn’t use this one, but in theory, as her mother’s mundane surname has likely changed to this, there’s no reason Clary couldn’t conceivably be adopted by Luke, or call herself that

Greymark - Same as above. She doesn’t, and likely wouldn’t, but conceivably could

So Clary has five names ever, all of which could be used post-COHF if desired. 

And my main point here is that we make fun of Jace for his many last names, but as is often the case, Clary is cooler and has him beat. Also tbh if they get married, he should just take her last name tbh. Jace Fairchild sounds pretty good.

[iwritesnortsintragedies]

Hi, long ask, sorry in advance. I’m just kind of confused. I was really happy with the Isabelle casting because she looks like canon (long dark hair, beautiful, etc) but I’m kinda worried since Alec is portrayed by a white actor that tv!Izzy will not actually be Latin@, like they’ll either portray her as a white character or skirt around it. The only Lightwood ethnicity that is canon is Cecily being Welsh and Maryse possibly be French (their names, the lullaby) but since Gideon studied in Spain,

maybe the Lightwood family originally came from Spain? And with the time period, maybe emigrated to Latin America? Idk maybe I’m being picky, but I want other cultures to be portrayed as well, because sometimes it feels like white people cast us to fill a quota and feel good about combating “white-as-default” but honestly, a POCs culture and life experiences because of that culture (Indian girls who were harassed for wearing bindis in school, Asians who suffered because their teachers had higher expectations, WOC who worry that their partner has an “exotic” fetish etc) is equally important. Is it bad to hope Isabelle and Simon’s RL cultural background will be tied into the characters’ TV arc? (Also, what made Clary and Jocelyn canonically white and not the Lightwoods—was there a specific scene or word or description?)

Don’t be sorry--ask messages are pretty short so it’s normal to use several when you’re trying to get a complex point accross :)

From what I’ve heard, the Lightwoods are set to be mixed race, so there’s a possibility that they’ll actually portray them as being culturally mixed as well (I’m crossing my fingers for it, at least. It’d be really nice.)That being said, given this series’ track record regarding diversity so far, I’d still brace myself if I were you, just in case.

And yeah, your ideas to make the Lightwoods Latin@ make sense--not to mention that French and Welsh don’t have to mean white, either, though I agree they’d still be Eurocentric choices. It’s tru that western TV (US TV, but also French TV and probably several other European countries) should include more people who aren’t from the same culture, and depict the difficulty they face due to this and/or their race--or more exactly, due to how other peole react to those factors.And no, I don’t think it’s bad of you to hope the series will take inspiration from its actors and use it as an occasion to give people better representation--it’s perfectly normal to want that. Everyone should want that, and studios should be trying to give that. Plus, Simon as Jewish MOC would be an interesting sidestep from the usual image of jewish people.

As for Clary, now that you mention it... I can’t recall any instance of her being explicitely stated to be white--or Luke for that matter... I guess I went by the idea that readhead=white.Which, really, goes to show how pervasive the idea of whiteness as default is because even as someone who tried to fight it I still fall for it... sorry about that, and thanks for pointing it out (I’ll go edit the original post, too)

[iwritesnortsintragedies]

wonderlandchihuahuas replied to your post “Finally saw the Camille Belcourt casting, which explains why I saw so...”

How many people have been cast at this point? Sorry I'm out of the loop. Also the only scene I've seen of Izzy is the club scene and isn't she kind of supposed to be crazy sexy because she's seducing that demon. Are there more? Please don't take any of that disrespectful. I sincerely didn't mean to sound rude if I did!

You don’t sound rude at all, don’t worry! ^^ (Besides, given how much I gripe about this fandom, I try to be more accepting of callous responses. Bc callousness brings out callousness, or something xD) (But like, you didn’t sound rude or callous at all^^)

All the castings are listed here in order of announcement.

Also, I was going to put that under a readmore but actually, I’d rather make it easier to read in full--sorry about that.

I’ll adress the thing with Izzy first, because it’s the shortest: yes, in the books Isabelle does use her sexuality as a weapon to seduce the demon into a trap. However, not only did the show ramp that up to eleven (by giving her much more reavealing clothing than hinted at in the book) that whole thing is inherently sexist, because it presents sexually active women as predators, which is a way to shame women for their sexuality--and in the case of Izzy who is 16, it’s also sexualizing a girl who is way too young to be sexualized. (Again, giving her sexual desire and activity is fine, lots of 16yo kids have them. What’s not right is to turn her into an object of people’s desire. Those are different things.) Also on a storytelling and strategic levels it’s a bad decision. As in: Izzy is trying to trap a predator and you usually do that by presenting yourself as a potential victim, not as a rival. and thematically speaking, you would get a much better example of Demons being dangerous and “evil” if you paint them as looming creatures looking for helpless people to hurt rather than put them in a victim’s place, being baited to their death. Lastly, we also have to keep in mind that being sexy isn’t the same as being sexualized. The Wives in Mad Max: Fury Road are sexy, but they’re not sexualized, there’s a significant difference.

Concerning the casting, so far we have:

Simon: Protag, racially ambiguous in canon - Latin@ actor

Isabelle: Protag, racially ambiguous in canon - Latin@ actress

Clary: MC, canonically white racially ambiguous in canon - White actress

Alec: Protag, racially ambiguous in canon - White actor

Luke: Protag, canonically white racially ambiguous in cnon- Black actor

Magnus: Protag, Indonesian in canon - Chinese actor (-_-)

Valentine: Major villain, canonically white racially ambiguous in canon - White actor

Jocelyn: Protag, canonically white racially ambiguous in canon - White actress

Hodge: Minor villain, canonically white racially ambiguous in canon - White actor

Raphael: Minor villain, canonically latin@ - Latin@ actor

Camille: Semi-major villain, canonically white - Brown caucasian actress Chinese + Irish origins

Blackwell: Minor villain, racially ambiguous in canon - White actor

Pangborn: Minor villain, racially ambiguous in canon - Black actor

Alaric: Minor protag, racially ambiguous in canon - Middle Eastern actor (by the looks of him, correct me if I’m wrong)

Merliorn: Minor villain, racially ambiguous in canon - Midle eastern actor (Again, based on looks--feel free to correct me or bring a more precise id on the table^^)

In bold, you can see the characters whose race or skin color was either outright changed or picked in defiance of the “white is the default” trope. In and of itself, I’ll agree it’s nice to see more diverse characters on the screen, and I appreciate that--but when you look a little deeper you realize thatseveral of these changes coincide with much less savory trope.

For example, Camille and Isabelle, who are both presented as very proactive sexually speaking, were both cast as Latin@ -- Latin@ (particularly women) are often portrayed as hyperactive, sexually speaking. The fact that both sexually proactive were cast as Latin@ reinforces 1) the idea that Latin@ women are always sexually proactive and 2) given that sexual proactivity in women is presented as a bad thing more often than not, it also reinforces the idea that Latin@ women are lesser than white women (who, in this specific case, most likely won’t be portrayed as sexually in charge)

Almost all of the characters whose actors aren’t white are non-human or will turn non human at some point (Alaric and Luke are werewolves, Simon will turn into a vamp, Pangborn is a warlock, Meliorn is half-fairy, etc.) This is othering because it associates the idea of being white and being human (which by default contributes to the dehumanization of POCs) Note: Cassandra Clare actually started this trend, since most of her POC characters are Downworlders and/or villains, despite her claiming that Shadowhunters are a super diverse bunch.

Several of the characters who were casted aginst the idea that “white is the default” will be dead by the end of the series, some of them by the end of season 1. (Alaric, Pangborn & Meliorn come to mind)

Alec, who could have been cast as Latin@ was cast as white, once again abiding by the unspoken rule that if a character “has to” be gay, then they can’t also be brown. (Note: I know Magnus contradicts that but given the negative tropes attached to his portrayal I don’t really feel like he offers much of a counter example, and that’s without even going into the insensitive casting choice of picking Harry Schum Jr to portray him)

Lastly, the only character whose casting went against explicit whiteness in canon is Luke, who is a werewolf. Considering the prejudiced tropes that depict black men as bestial, violent, dangerous and out of control, the decision is... suspicious at best.

Did the producers cast this way with the idea of sending a specific message? I don’t think so. But not only does that do nothing to negate the unfortunate implications of their decisions, if they play it the Clare way (aka. try to claim ally points and refuse to listen people who tell them they’re anything but perfect) it’s going to be even worse, because that’ll mean even an even wider audience tricked into thinking this is the kind of representation POCs need.

Addendums

EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that Clary and the others weren’t actually explicited as white in canon, which I overlooked at first--apparently I’m not completely rid of the idea that no description=white :/ Sorry about that

EDIT 2: 910707​ pointed out to me that Kaitlyn Leeb isn’t actually Latin@ but actually has Chinese and Irish origins.Again, I can only apologize for the misinformation :/]