Injustice, Discrimination and The Structuring Of Sensitivity: Some Insights from Shadowhunters

Abstract

As part of a broader reflection on the role that television series are playing in everyday life, in education and cultural debates, on how they support democratic values and polyphonic identities, this paper will explore the way in which the television series Shadowhunters deals with identity concerns and confronts prejudice and exclusion. It will analyse the patterns this series and the books behind it have elaborated to talk about the configuring of the self and, more specifically, the structuring of sensitivity. The Mortal Instruments (2007-2014) is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by Cassandra Clare. It follows a group of Nephilim, humans with angelic qualities known as Shadowhunters, who fight demons and live in a world invisible to human eyes. In 2014 the decision was made that The Mortal Instruments would become a television series. The main character is Clary Fairchild, a seemingly ordinary human adolescent aged sixteen, who is led to discover her heritage as a Shadowhunter. The Shadowhunters’ society is not exempt from perpetrating injustice and discrimination towards other beings, such as vampires, werewolves, fairies, warlocks (who are the Downworlders, a metaphor for despised minorities), and reinforces a climate of prejudice and distrust. Clary, however, starts questioning and addressing values and behaviour from a different perspective.