Mangus and the Box part one
So I am still in the process of unpacking Mangus from Shadow
hunters as he is a very different character in the books, movie, and tv
adaptions and we see that in the TV adaptations this was due to copyright
issues and licensing to use content from the books as well as rating issues as
we really can’t have Magnus an 800-year-old warlock dating a 16-year-old shadow
hunter so it made sense to make sure that they aged up the characters and Harry
Shum jr will always be my Magnus. I have only watched certain bits of the movie
so we need to be aware of this but I see that Mangus is very open but very
private at the same time I talked about the box before and how it contains
memories of past lovers and we see that this becomes an issue for Alec as it
reminds him that he will die and Mangus will not and this is very difficult to
accept, and it is very similar to when people with disability’s use things that
aren’t considered to be “age-appropriate,” but it needs appropriate to their
needs such as phone applications, or even things that are considered toys but
help them to self-regulate as well.
So in bringing it back to the box we see that Alec doesn’t
know how to deal with this as it is his first relationship. We also see that as well as it being his first
relationship it is his first same-sex relationship and he is navigating the
issues that come with this as well because people seem to be
reasonably accepting of the fact that he is gay, in his father, Robert lightwood,
but we see that it is the fact that we see that the issue is he is openly
dating a downworlder. Seems to support him and is asking how long
the relationship has been going on, in the books the relationship is much more
complex and hidden because he is a down worlder and we see that
Mangus forces Alec to come out because he is used as the “shadow
hunters pet warlock”.
We see that this
could have parallels to disability as well when we have objects that have significance
to one client but to a support, worker seems like rubbish and if the support
worker is undertrained we see that this can create issues in that we see that
the support worker considering it rubbish will throw it away and this isn’t
great because people need to be involved in the decisions that affect
them and this isn’t a great idea.
We also see that Mangus deserves his privacy as he is both a
very open person but a very private one as well, and we see that there are issues
with Alec going through his stuff and this is something that happens with
support workers at times ( we see that in some cases in Supported independent
accommodation we see that) this could be an issue depending on the clients that
you are with and how to work with the clients best and this means respecting
there right to privacy and not using technology to spy on them.
Mangus knew when things were out of order and that things
had been gone through and clients will know this as well this can also trigger behaviours of concern and we see this in Mangus giving Alec the silent treatment and
stepping back when Alec needed him the most and this became difficult for Alec
and we see that Mangus isn’t prepared to be disrespected like he was in the
past with the Herondale family and Camille Belcourt in him trying to save Will
from becoming a vampire. [i]
As we see that Mangus had lost his position as High warlock and needed emotional support from alec not to have his privacy invaded and we
see that this is where things get complex because people need to
have support and have a good support network around them and we see that Alec does apologize but it triggers jealously in Alec and the realization that Mangus is
fundamentally different in that he is immortal and that Alec is a shadow hunter
and that this is the first time that the relationship could be out in the open
as in the past Magnus lovers had to be discreet.
We see that he has a history with the Shadow hunters and
knows their ways and thought that this generation that is coming through had
changed but we see that this is several things that Alec did that lead to the
breaking of Mangus's trust in Alec the first one being lying about the soul sword,
the second one is going through the box, this then resulted in him not
trusting Alec for a while as well, but we see that Alec has to lead a very
sheltered life and to understand what really has happened in his life we see
that he was basically parentified from a young age and left with their tutors
and this then resulted in Alec being what the fandom describes as “grumpy cat
Alec,” so the only ones in the Lightwood family with any common sense and he
suppresses his emotions to the point that it harms him as I have written about
his mental health before and I am sure that even though it’s never stated the
TV version of Alec has to be taught emotions, is very routine oriented and
detail focused. So I suspect that he was played wonderfully by Matthew Daddario
to be a very high-functioning autistic person and this is something that needs
to be celebrated to see a character that is so complex but not pushed out as a tokenistic
approach to diversity and inclusion. As
this world is very dark we see that Alec has delt with a lot and we do see that
he is very closeted and it is Mangus that sees this and the first time Alec
smiles is when he meets Magnus for the first time and we see that he is surprised
to be seen, for who he is and this is what makes this breach of trust so hurtful
to Mangus in a way due to the fact that people seem to not get that he is
immortal but he has a very human side to his emotions and can feel emotions in
his magic we see that this is an issue due to the fact that if he gets Angry he
may not be able to control his magic we see that this is how he fits into the “
mundane,” and shadow world by having glamour around him and his warlock marks
and we when the ley lines are attacked that the Magic is attached to the ley
lines and the warlocks emotions as we see that Mangus lashed out and killed his
loving stepfather but in the books and again I have written about this it’s
more complicated due to the fact that it was kill or be killed and we see that
magnus lashed out in anger but we see that Alec tries to comfort Mangus but due
to Alec not believing that Manguns was in valentine’s body we see that this was
the first betrayal and they used the torture rune, as Alec had doubts but we
see that Jace warned him to not believe it as Valentine always had a few tricks
up his sleeve and being able to take memories might have been one of them.
We see in the past Mangus has helped the Shadow hunter out of a sense of obligation and duty but doesn’t seem to see that history is repeating
itself as he sees the same thing in Alec a lost shadow hunter who buries himself in the missions because he doesn’t want to acknowledge something deep in himself, for will
this was that his grandfather was besbealbub and for Alec, this is his sexuality
and we see a deep resemblance to Will Herondale in Alec as well as the Shadow
hunters didn’t like them marrying outside there own kind or if they did they
had to leave the world behind.
I will come back to the box in another post, but I see that
there is much I haven’t explored in this relationship in the context of
disability and representation.
Comments
Post a Comment