Line #58 Literature/Modelland


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/modelland_7103.jpg]]
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3	->''"You want to be chosen. You know you do. Don't lie, dahling [sic]. You lust to go to Modelland to become one of the only famous people in the world..."''
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5	''Modelland'' [[note]]pronounced exactly how it looks[[/note]] is a YoungAdult novel written by former supermodel and ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'' host Creator/TyraBanks. It was meant to be the first part of a series, but no sequels ever materialized. It's notable in that it's one of the few celebrity book projects that (according to WordOfGod) doesn't have a ghost writer involved. It is a cross between ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', ''Literature/HarryPotter'', and ''America's Next Top Model''.
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7	Tookie De La Crème isn't what you would call a conventional beauty: Her forehead is big, her hair is ratty, her body is gawky, and her eyes are two different colors. So naturally, she didn't expect to be picked to attend Modelland, an exclusive school on top of the [[WorldTree world mountain]] where the magical Intoxibellas, women who are a cross between modern day supermodels and sorceresses, are trained. It's an opportunity that every other girl in the world would kill for, and somehow, she and three other awkward looking girls have ended up there.
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10	!!Tropes that ''Modelland'' provides an example of:
11	* AbusiveParents: The De La Crèmes verbally abuse their two daughters, though of course Tookie gets the brunt of it. [[spoiler: Ci~L has it even worse]].
12	* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: Dear ''Lord'', yes. It's rare to find a piece of setting-related terminology that ''isn't'' abbreviated in some cutesy manner.
13	* AerithAndBob: Tookie, Myrracle (pronounced "miracle"), Theophilus Lovelaces, Zarpessa Zarionneax, Desperada, Abigail, Lizzie, Brian.
14	* AlphaBitch: Zarpessa.
15	* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: Bravo tells Tookie about a little boy named Deco, who dreamt of being an architect. She quickly figures out that "Deco" is really Bravo.
16	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Tyra gets things wrong about albinos the vast majority of the time.
17	* AuthorTract: Tyra wants you to know that every girl is beautiful in her own way. There are also some bits about not sharing makeup, eating right, and not buying designer knockoffs.
18	* BaitAndSwitch: The accident in which Chris lost his eye begins with Creamy accidentally shining a beam of light from her mirror into his eye while he's on the high wire. It seems this is going to be connected to the eye loss, but while he falls seven stories, he's perfectly fine... until he bows to the audience and [[TooDumbToLive somehow]] manages to impale his own eye on a decorative sword.
19	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Myrracle qualifies at the beginning, though it's hard to blame her considering her parentage.
20	* BrokenAesop: The Aesop is supposed to be that true beauty is on the inside, but Tookie and her friends often behave in ugly ways towards anyone deemed an antagonist.
21	* BullyingTheDragon: At Modelland, Zarpessa keeps bullying Tookie, even though Tookie could reveal Zarpessa's poverty to the other students.
22	* ContrivedCoincidence:
23	** Multiple times, Tookie just happens to sleepwalk to someplace she's not allowed to go, and where, by pure chance, she comes across vital information. How she manages to get in is never properly explained.
24	** When Tookie needs to find a secret route out from Modelland, her boyfriend Bravo just happens to know where one is, and he mentions it without even being told Tookie needed one.
25	* CostumePorn: Because it's about fashion models, the outfit descriptions are very detailed.
26	* {{Dystopia}}: One where supermodels have become living gods and everything revolves around the fashion and retail industries, no less.
27	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Averted. Most of the time, Tookie gets what she wants without making any real effort.
28	** Hot guy Bravo is attracted to her just like that, and stays attracted to her even when she treats him like something the cat dragged in.
29	** When she needs to get out of Modelland, she finds a hidden route without even having to try to find it.
30	** She gets admitted to Modelland without even performing the ceremony for applying in the first place.
31	* EyeScream: Tookie's father impaled his eye on a sword during one of his shows when he was an acrobat.
32	* {{Fangirl}}: [=ZhenZhen=], toward Ci~L.
33	* FantasticRacism:
34	** The staff of Modelland really don't like actresses. It's especially hilarious if you've ever watched ''Top Model,'' since Tyra frequently makes the girls go through acting challenges, and will mention how acting can be very important to a model, both helping with a modelling career, and giving a model opportunities once a model's very short shelf life is over.
35	** Also, Tookie keep referring to a being that has a hand for a head as "it" even after she/he is revealed to be human. And the [=LeGizzards=] seem to be AlwaysChaoticEvil.
36	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Gowdee'an is Spanish; Très Jolie is French; [=BayJingle=] is Chinese; Metopia is probably California, or maybe the whole western United States coast, since Shivera is a cold area; [=TerraBossaNova=] is Brazil; Chakra is India; Striptown is Las Vegas; Palinian is Alaska; Kwaito is probably an African country; [=FiveHundred=] is the southern United States; Canne Del Abra is somewhere in the Middle East; [=NorDenSee=] seems to be Norway, Sweden, and Denmark rolled into one; Cappuccina is Italy; Pyramidian is Egyptian; [=TooLip=] is the Netherlands; Icylann is so obviously Iceland, it's not even funny; [=MiniPaul=] is the Minneapolis/St. Paul Twin cities region, so of course the quadruplets are from there; Texiococo is Mexico; Oktooberfest is Germany; Didgeridoo is Australia; [=AngelCity=] might be Los Angeles; Bou-Big-Tique might be New York; Kremlingrad is Russia.
37	* FemaleMisogynist: Zarpessa makes several remarks in this direction, much to the irritation of Dr. Erica and the [=BellaDonna=].
38	* FourGirlEnsemble: Tookie, Dylan, Piper, and Shiraz.
39	* GoldenSnitch: If you get a SMIZE, you've just about won a free pass to Modelland. [[spoiler: Later on, Tookie wins a competition almost entirely because a SMIZE popped up at a [[DeusExMachina convenient time]]]].
40	* [[GratuitousRape Gratuitous]] AttemptedRape: [[spoiler: We're treated to a flashback of Creamy attempting to rape Ci~L's father. There's presumably no reason for this except to make Creamy look even more awful.]]
41	* HairyGirl: [[MeaningfulName Harriet]] and Abigail Goode.
42	* IdiotBall:
43	** Tookie is afraid that her mother will send her away to be a factory dependent. Tookie could easily avoid this by using her perfect language skills to get a lucrative job as a translator, but the thought never strikes her.
44	** At one point, Tookie and her friends need to get out of Modelland. They can either go straight to the dangerous place known as the Diabolical Divide, or take another route that's got a 50% chance of taking them to the Diabolical Divide, and a 50% chance of taking them somewhere safe. Dylan says they should take the route that definitely leads to the Diabolical Divide, because she wants to know where she's going. All the other girls agree with this.
45	* InformedAbility: We're told that Ci~L writes excellent poetry. Then we get to read it...
46	* InformedAttribute:
47	** Tookie is supposed to have always dreamed of going to Modelland. But when she reaches Modelland, she needs Zarpessa to explain many of the things and places there. Why Tookie hadn't bothered to learn about a place she supposedly dreamt about is anybody's guess.
48	** The narration informs us that Tookie cares deeply for her friend Lizzie. But several times in the book, Tookie knows that Lizzie is in danger, and doesn't bother to try to help her even though it would be relatively easy.
49	* InformedDeformity: Tookie, Dylan, Shiraz, and Piper have these according to the regular denizens of Modelland. Probably intentional, seeing as they're dealing with a magical version of the modeling industry. Tookie in particular is said to be so forgettable that you'll forget she exists even if she's right in front of you, but the narration keeps stressing how bizarre her looks are. And being bizarre is the opposite of being plain.
50	* InvisibleIntrovert: Tookie describes herself as a "Forgeddagirl", being so shy and forgettable that she may as well literally be invisible. So much so that she can literally lie down in the middle of a crowded hallway and [[ExaggeratedTrope people will just walk right over her without giving her so much as a glance]].
51	* LemonyNarrator: You better believe it, dahling. Though it stops after a few chapters.
52	* MoralMyopia: It's awful if Zarpessa is mean to Tookie. If Tookie and her friends say nasty stuff to Zarpessa, it's treated as perfectly okay.
53	* MysteriousPast: Very little is told about Lizzie, despite her knowledge about hidden things (such as an untapped platinum mine) and signs of PTSD.
54	* NoPeriodsPeriod: The girls, early on in the book, are rewarded for making it to Modelland by having their menstrual cycles stopped.
55	* ParentalFavoritism: Tookie's parents dote on her younger sister Myrracle so much that Tookie wears "hand-me-up" clothes from her sister.
56	* PurpleProse: Tyra loves her thesaurus.
57	* SelfInsertFic: Tyra has mentioned numerous times that people in the modeling industry have been critical of her large forehead, her ratty hair, her gawky body. She also admitted that part of the plot was inspired by her own career as a model. The ''About The Author'' page of the book is hardly subtle about it.
58	* SeriousBusiness: The entire world revolves around Intoxibellas and, in the case of girls, trying to become one. Tied into that is the collecting of [=SMIZEs=], fake eyebrow-like artifacts (one of which is featured on the cover) that increase a girl's chances of being picked for Modelland by 91%.
59	* ShoeSizeAngst: Tookie is embarrassed of her "snowshoe-sized" feet.
60	* SingleMindedTwins: The quadruplets not only look alike, they each say a word of a sentence and have the exact same favorite food.
61	* SpaceWhaleAesop: At Thigh High Boot Camp, the girls are taught not to share makeup or buy knockoff accessories. This is accomplished by creating the illusion that they've turned into monsters after putting on makeup, and having the accessories literally attack them. These segments ''could'' be interpreted as inept attempts at metaphor, but it still makes little logical sense.
62	* StalkerWithACrush: Tookie is one for Theo for much of the book, until she meets Bravo.
63	* StrawMisogynist: Zarpessa is an unrealistically extreme example.
64	* ThemeTune: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSDd_aQjm54 Ms. Banks has made one for Modelland.]] Tweet proof [[http://twitter.com/tyrabanks/status/94569156598431744 here]].
65	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: What happened to Hunchy?
66	* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: A line in one of the [=BellaDonna's=] songs goes "You crosseth mine gold path today." According to the rules of old English, it should go "You cross my gold path today."

Context Literature / Modelland