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penig:
tickety-boo-af:
This show says, “Listen to yourself and what you love. It could save the world.” And we got that message loud and clear.
I love celebrating that love and that self-knowledge with y’all.
ngk-they-said:
I’ve seen lots of fans remark on how wonderful it is that the Good Omens fandom leaves space for such diverse interpretations of the characters and story. So many of us find different ways to see ourselves in Aziraphale and Crowley, whether that’s our identities or experiences or interests…
But for me this goes beyond just having space for different fans’ preferences. What amazes me about this fandom is that I adore and resonate with so many seemingly conflicting interpretations of Aziraphale and Crowley’s story, and I think lots of others do too. I’ll read a fic in which they’ve been together romantically for 6000 years and it makes as much sense to me as one in which they get together after thwarting the apocalypse, and of course I’ll love a queer platonic take on their relationship just as much. I read fics in which they are asexual and I’m like “yeah, exactly!” on the same day that I’ll savor a tender and sexy PWP fic. I’ve read and seen them portrayed as every experience of gender identity and been like “yup, that’s them (and I see myself in that too)”. I’ve read different takes on how they experience human mental health or neurodiversity and they all resonate. I’ve read fics where Aziraphale’s kisses burn like holy water and I’m thinking, “of course that is what would happen”; fics where angel kisses turn to freckles (“obviously”); then I’ll read a different interpretation where kisses are just soft and human and that makes perfect sense too.
What’s amazing about this experience is that I don’t recall feeling this way about previous fandoms and ships. With other ships I tended to have a singular narrative in my head about “how it would be”, and beyond AUs I felt like the fandom kind of did too. Maybe that’s because I’m older now, but I don’t think it’s just my age… this fandom is fundamentally queerer and more pluralistic.
The way that the Good Omens fandom invites us all to hold multiple different headcanons and interpretations without them feeling “conflicting” is amazing. It’s a beautiful expression of plurality, empathy, and fluidity that itself reflects a rather queer and feminist way of seeing the world. And that’s lovely. What if we saw more of the real world that way, with room for gray area and nuance? Letting two conflicting things be true at once, just like Crowley and Aziraphale integrate darkness/light? Like them, we’re conditioned to think about binary options and “two sides”. Like them, we can inspire each other to see life more fluidly than that, while also taking a firm stand for something we believe in.
I think this also has to do with A/C’s actual role in the narrative.
It’s really, really easy to get all caught up in their relationship (especially after watching the show, in which as I understand it Michael Sheen sucked the entire cast and crew into his ‘ship); but structurally Aziraphale and Crowley are the chorus. They’re along for the ride and providing commentary, and always have been. They’ve been everywhere, they’ve seen it all, at one level or another they’ve experienced all of life and humanity and been left dazzled. They can squeeze themselves to fit into every human society and enjoy every aspect that isn’t viscerally horrifying, but the only place they actually belong is with each other, the eternal liminal space.
So of course they lend themselves to myriads of queer readings. Of course we can all project ourselves into them. It’s a condition of their existence. Our categories don’t apply to them, so they fit into all the categories that aren’t too mainstream and normalized.
penig:
tickety-boo-af:
This show says, “Listen to yourself and what you love. It could save the world.” And we got that message loud and clear.
I love celebrating that love and that self-knowledge with y’all.
ngk-they-said:
I’ve seen lots of fans remark on how wonderful it is that the Good Omens fandom leaves space for such diverse interpretations of the characters and story. So many of us find different ways to see ourselves in Aziraphale and Crowley, whether that’s our identities or experiences or interests…
But for me this goes beyond just having space for different fans’ preferences. What amazes me about this fandom is that I adore and resonate with so many seemingly conflicting interpretations of Aziraphale and Crowley’s story, and I think lots of others do too. I’ll read a fic in which they’ve been together romantically for 6000 years and it makes as much sense to me as one in which they get together after thwarting the apocalypse, and of course I’ll love a queer platonic take on their relationship just as much. I read fics in which they are asexual and I’m like “yeah, exactly!” on the same day that I’ll savor a tender and sexy PWP fic. I’ve read and seen them portrayed as every experience of gender identity and been like “yup, that’s them (and I see myself in that too)”. I’ve read different takes on how they experience human mental health or neurodiversity and they all resonate. I’ve read fics where Aziraphale’s kisses burn like holy water and I’m thinking, “of course that is what would happen”; fics where angel kisses turn to freckles (“obviously”); then I’ll read a different interpretation where kisses are just soft and human and that makes perfect sense too.
What’s amazing about this experience is that I don’t recall feeling this way about previous fandoms and ships. With other ships I tended to have a singular narrative in my head about “how it would be”, and beyond AUs I felt like the fandom kind of did too. Maybe that’s because I’m older now, but I don’t think it’s just my age… this fandom is fundamentally queerer and more pluralistic.
The way that the Good Omens fandom invites us all to hold multiple different headcanons and interpretations without them feeling “conflicting” is amazing. It’s a beautiful expression of plurality, empathy, and fluidity that itself reflects a rather queer and feminist way of seeing the world. And that’s lovely. What if we saw more of the real world that way, with room for gray area and nuance? Letting two conflicting things be true at once, just like Crowley and Aziraphale integrate darkness/light? Like them, we’re conditioned to think about binary options and “two sides”. Like them, we can inspire each other to see life more fluidly than that, while also taking a firm stand for something we believe in.
I think this also has to do with A/C’s actual role in the narrative.
It’s really, really easy to get all caught up in their relationship (especially after watching the show, in which as I understand it Michael Sheen sucked the entire cast and crew into his ‘ship); but structurally Aziraphale and Crowley are the chorus. They’re along for the ride and providing commentary, and always have been. They’ve been everywhere, they’ve seen it all, at one level or another they’ve experienced all of life and humanity and been left dazzled. They can squeeze themselves to fit into every human society and enjoy every aspect that isn’t viscerally horrifying, but the only place they actually belong is with each other, the eternal liminal space.
So of course they lend themselves to myriads of queer readings. Of course we can all project ourselves into them. It’s a condition of their existence. Our categories don’t apply to them, so they fit into all the categories that aren’t too mainstream and normalized.