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cant-really-remember · 1 year ago

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Good Omens from a Cult Perspective

And I don’t mean the fandom cult…

I wrote a hasty meta about being a cult survivor and watching GO (here) and I was hoping to start parsing out some of the things. I wanted to start off talking about the final fifteen.

Starting here feels the most natural because it was this scene that I felt so so deeply.

Before I dive in, I want to lay down some foundations so this can be easier to follow.

Things to know

-Cults can be benign, the proper way to distinguish dangerous ones is calling them “high control groups”. I will be talking about high control groups only, using the shorthand “cults”. Also I will speak of “inside” and “outside” to describe the “us and them” nature of cultic systems.

-Cults use a system to organizes people around a doctrine, a charismatic leader, or both. Akin to fascism, complete obedience is expected. This can be achieved in many way, but the most common are: behavior, thought, and environment control.

-“Bounded choice” is a term from Janja Lalich (an incredible cult scholar) from a book of the same name. She describes that cults hijack peoples’ free will by making them think they have choices, but really the are bounded to the reality of the cult. So people inside feel like they are making choices, but the things they have to choose from are ONLY within the rules or world of the cult. Every choice is, at its core, “do what we say or you are out”.

-Cults are not just robes and incense. It’s not even always a group of random people. Families can function like cults. One-on-one abusive relationships can be set up as a cultic system. My story has all three.

-People in cults, and to a much higher degree people who are born in to cults, are not allowed to have an identity that is separate from the cult. Their sense of self is defined by the cult. An extremely cool term I learned while studying cults is “arbiter of existence” - the cult essentially tells you who you are and, at the end of the day, they tell you if you are. They can tell you that you aren’t, that you don’t exist. They can - and often do - cut you off and erase your existence, in their world, you will have never existed. This is a common practice and an even more common threat. Sound familiar?

-Lastly, Aziraphale = he, Crowley = she (babygirl)

The final fifteen

Really more like the final 21. I want to start when the Metatron shows up. Quick run down:

Metatron shows up, he isn’t recognized by the beautitudes, immediately demands validation (asking Crowley who he is), then demands obedience, and sidles up to Aziraphale with a small gift and some doddering old man charm.

Next we see him assure Aziraphale “you don’t have to answer immediately, take all the time you need…go and tell your friend the good news”. Then, in flashback, we see him reassuring Aziraphale that he is a great leader and honest (I’m pretty sure he is neither) and *harmlessly* mentioning that he has seen Aziraphale’s “de facto partnership with the demon Crowley”.

After this is when the wheels fall off. So I want to stop here and make cult connections.

painting by @aliceblakeart

The cult connection

In my analysis of the final 21 through the lens of cult survivorship, this is how I identify the parts. But I do have to first state that Neil Gaiman grew up as both a mainstream Jew and a Scientologist, as well as attended a highly religious Christian school.

Heaven and Hell are both cults - Heaven is a regimented, highly organized cult (like Scientology) and Hell is oppressive and insidious but much less strict (like, ironically, mainstream Judaism). Crowley was ejected from the cult of Heaven for asking questions - this is literally why LOTS of people get get kicked out and shunned from their cults - and she has found a new cult, Hell.

Cult members are, by necessity, optimists. They HAVE to believe there is a greater good, especially when they are enduring or witnessing violence or oppression. They are trained to think that the small things don’t matter (like Job’s children) because there are more blessings in store for the future. Aziraphale, as we see through the entirety of GO, is struggling with this. Crowley isn’t struggling with it, she knows it’s crap. She knows Heaven and Hell are both full of shit. But she just goes along as far as she can.

Ethereal/Occult, by Me 😇

Surviving a cult

It’s takes a lot of mental and emotional fortitude to survive inside and outside of a cult. While inside, you are constantly being asked/forced to do things against your own moral judgement. You are expected to push past your own boundaries to achieve the cult’s (or the leader’s) goals - no matter how ineffable they may be. You exist in a world of mental gymnastics. When you are confronted with hypocrisy or just plain bad deeds, you really only have a few choices: deny it, justify it, or let it start to crack at your sense of self.

This is where Aziraphale is. We see him in denial, we see him performing feats of mental gymnastics, and then we see him let the truths begin to crack him. Now from a person looking in from the outside, we can celebrate these cracks! They mean freedom, right?! But these cracks come with the most, absolute, devastatingly heartbreaking pain.

Crowley knows this pain. She is now an outsider. (I know she is still in a cult, but let’s just focus on Heaven right now). She has been ejected and shunned and possibly her memory has been wiped. Crowley’s existence as an angel is no more. She knows the cruel pain of the million light year free-style dive from the naïveté and comfort of the her life as an ethereal being into a dark, disgusting place.

I have been both inside and outside of a cult. I have known people on the outside when I was inside and I have known people inside when I was out. These are two sides of an extremely emotionally complicated coin. When you are in, looking out, you see the freedoms and the fun but you also see it as so lonely without your cult and confusing. The cult is your constant companion, either actually physically or just mentally. It guides your choices, it has rules for everything so you don’t have to do that nasty critical thinking stuff. Yuck. And the cult gives you meaning, it provides members with a higher purpose, it tells them who they are, and it even defines the boundaries and rules of the world. If your cult tells you that gravity only works if you wish every fifteen minutes, you will spend your entire life wishing every fifteen minutes - not daring to stop because if you do, gravity will cease and everyone on the planet will go floating off in to space. A cult can also tell you that certain things don’t work, like perhaps that an angel and a demon cannot be friends. It’s physically impossible. It is against the rules of physics. This, again, is where Aziraphale is.

On the outside looking in, you have so much more information. And a lot of the that information is pain. At least at first. With time and therapy, the pain will hopefully melt away or be healed. But Crowley ain’t there yet, she is still standing in the window grieving the loss of her angelic existence. Well, at least, in S1. By the end of S2, she has figured out they are toxic and she doesn’t need either of them. So the burden of information weighs heavy on Crowley. She knows the absolute gut-wrenching pain of leaving Heaven, but she also knows the lightness of leaving it’s fascism behind.

I have had more Crowley experiences in my life, most recently my sister leaving our cult and my best friend leaving her abusive relationship. For many years, I have been in close relationship with both of them while they were deep in their respective cults and then witnessed them leaving (the latter left three times). I wanted to grab them and shake them and yell at them and say RUN!! But I knew it wouldn’t do a lick of good. I knew it would just cause more pain. I knew that the only best option is to stay right there, available for support, and as a constant reminder that there is a life on the outside.

(If you know whose this is, I would love to give credit)

How this translates to Crowley and Aziraphale over the years

We know the dynamic well: Aziraphale digs his heels in and Crowley runs. But if you peel back just a few layers of the well-crafted artifice, it is Crowley who never waivers. Aziraphale constantly reminds her of the wide and deep fissure that exists between them. Or at least Heaven says it exists. That fissure. They are “hereditary enemies”, they are the bad guys, there can’t be an “us”. Aziraphale is still so deeply indoctrinated by Heaven that he believes any relationship with Crowley is literally impossible.

Aziraphale lobs cruel insults and constantly downplays how much Crowley means to him. Crowley just sometimes gets hurt and leaves the scene. But Crowley comes back because she knows that it’s not Aziraphale saying that, it’s Heaven.

When my sister was still in, the only times she said anything cruel to me was when it came from someone else. I could hear it, in the way she was talking and in the words she used. They weren’t hers. And I knew the words weren’t hers because I knew my sister deep underneath all the cult stuff. So I would get off the phone and draw a boundary and leave the scene. But here is where my and Crowley’s stories diverge. She always went back and apologized.

This is Crowley still feeding into the cult dynamic. In a cult, the leader and/or doctrine in never wrong. So you become extraordinarily adept at taking responsibility for everything, no matter what. It becomes second nature. I did it in all my relationships until I realized where it came from and that it is just pisspoor boundaries. But Crowley is scared and doesn’t want to lose Aziraphale and doesn’t think her love is stronger than Heaven. So, instead of holding her boundary, Crowley comes back and asks for forgiveness from Aziraphale every time.

We all know where Aziraphale needs growth - he needs to leave the damn cult - but this is where Crowley needs growth. She has to walk away and stay away. In my own life, I played this game with my sister back and forth until I realized that I had nothing to apologize for. She was being cruel and crossing my boundaries. I was reacting accordingly. In an extremely painful decision, I told her that I couldn’t talk to her anymore because of the way she was treating me. I can’t tell you how excruciating this was. But, two years later, it’s the best thing I could have done.

That day something snapped in her. When she saw me walk away because of how the cult was expecting her to behave, she began the slow and painful process of getting out.

Smitten, I believe, by Me 😇

The fifteen, for real this time

So in this analogy, the Metatron is the cult leader, Aziraphale is in the cult but waffling, and Crowley is on the outside trying to help him get out.

The Metatron has done all the things a cult leader/abuser would do:

-lied through flattery (you’re a great leader)

-threaten very passively (I’ve seen the de facto partnership)

-given a gift (the coffee)

-the “im just like you” moment (I’ve ingested things in my day)

-isolation (taking Aziraphale out of his safe space and away from a person who would actually stand up for him)

-lying about having a choice (you don’t have to answer immediately, take all the time you need - but really he shows up ten minutes later and says “ok let’s go” and we never see Aziraphale actually give an answer)

-making something awful sound good (tell your friend the good news)

I can list these things from memory because this scene is seared in my memory. When I saw it the first time I cried like a baby and it wasn’t because I was so invested in our ineffable idiots. It was because I had seen this same thing happen to my best friend. I saw her get hoovered back into a relationship with her abuser twice.

What you have to understand about trying to leave a cult is that you never really want to. Something has to push you over the edge. Something has to break. Something that’s so f’ing bad that you decide to essentially elect not to exist anymore. I did this, I elected not to exist to my family anymore. But this was after so, so many years of going back after leaving and being treated just as poorly, if not worse.

The cult/leader/abuser is a master at keeping you just far enough from the edge that you don’t fall over. One of the ways they can keep you is that the cult dynamic is set up so nothing in the world feels better than being in the cult’s/leader’s/abuser’s favor. This is the pinnacle of validation, it is life giving (because remember, they are the arbiter of existence).

The act of drawing you back from the edge is known as hoovering - like sucking you back in with a giant Hoover vacuum. There are many plays in the playbook for this, but the particular one the Metatron uses is the “you can have it all” play.

See, the Metatron knows that Aziraphale doesn’t want to leave Crowley but he also knows that Aziraphale desperately wants to be in Heaven’s favor. Aziraphale was trained to desperately want that. There are little moments in S2 where you can see him getting validation from Crowley (in lieu of Heaven’s approval) and his eyes light up, he even laments not being able to report to Heaven. So the Metatron proposes a “you can have it all” scenario.

Come back, we will flatter you and give you approval and status, oh, and you can bring your twink with you. It will be totally cool and you will be able to do whatever you want and we trust you to make decisions and you will be in charge and you will have it all just perfect.

Except it’s all a lie. We know, from the Gabriel tapes, that you can’t say no. No matter if you are the Supreme Archangel. It’s not totally cool and you better tow the line. And Crowley knows this, too. Crowley knows that Aziraphale is being lied to, again. She knows where this goes.

So when the happy-arms bright-eyes proposal of going back to Heaven comes out, Crowley - after being aghast at Aziraphale’s naïveté- makes a last ditch effort to pull Aziraphale out the door and over the edge. “How can someone so clever be so stupid?” The final fifteen is Crowley slowly coming to realize that this is a train wreck she has absolutely no power to stop or divert. The kiss was an attempt at the grab-their-shoulders-and-shake-furiously that we all feel when we see someone clearly making a mistake. And “don’t bother” is Crowley succumbing to the speed and velocity of the train barreling down the tracks. She knows that the only thing that will stop this is the train actually hitting something.

Tell me you said no, by Me 😇

Aziraphale has made his bounded choice. He has believed the lies and manipulation and future faking and thinks he is making the best choice for them AND for the world. He will change Heaven, he will save humanity, he will be with Crowley. It’s literally perfect. He can not understand why Crowley doesn’t see it.

So where does that leave us

Well, in the worst case scenario, Aziraphale goes back to Heaven, back in to the fold, becomes totally indoctrinated and forgets Crowley. But, Neil said it was going to be ok and I trust him.

I think that two wonderful things will happen. I think Crowley will hold her boundary. I think she will learn her own value and that she deserves to be treated with care and kindness. I think we see this in the way she left the last time. She walked out and waited. Didn’t run back, didn’t apologize, didn’t beg for the forgiveness she pretends she doesn’t want. She stood there leaned against the Bentley with a straight backbone like “I am worth it and if you can’t see it you’re an idiot.” She is saying, “you have to come to me this time.”

And I think the moment outside the elevator is the train-hitting-something for Aziraphale. When the Metatron says “it’s called the second coming” you hear a miracle sound. Forever I thought that this was the Metatron putting some sort of trance on Aziraphale because that would explain the creepy smile, right? But after the sound, he turns to look at Crowley one last time. If he was in a trance, he wouldn’t have done that. Then I realized, that was his snap! All the cracks and doubt and things Crowley has been telling him finally snapped into place. The miracle was putting “A Nightingale Sang” on the radio of the Bentley.

Hear me out: we know that Aziraphale has established a connection with the Bentley. We know that song means a lot of things for them. And now we know that Aziraphale has possibly had slow motion train crash moment.

Aziraphale is well aware of the mortal/ethereal danger he is in in the presence of the Metatron. He could be smoted/smited/smitten on the spot, so he is not going to turn on his heel and run back to Crowley. He will send a message and start to make his escape plans.

I don’t want to make predictions past that because Neil is incredible and I want him to tell the story.

Thanks for reading of you got all the way down here ☺️ I have so much to say about the intersection of cults and GO.

#good omens 2 #ineffable fandom #ineffable husbands #good omens #ineffable partners #crowley x aziraphale #good omens fanart #ineffable fanart #good omens prime #cult survivor #cults #cult omens #can’t really go

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redfurrycat · 2 years ago

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🙀💖Fanart and Fangif and Fanpost Recs💖🙀

Here is a list of GORGEOUS fanarts and fangifs and fanposts I wanted to make, because I'm ALWAYS scrolling down desperately in my blog to find one post or another. I figure I'd make it available for anyone to see.

Be sure to give their authors MUCH LOVE!!!!!! (💖💖REBLOGS! 💖💖)

The way I choose to describe each post is personal, it may or may not be how their authors see it. Don't be offended or anything, it's for organisational purposes. (Though if there is a problem, message me! 💖)

It's also possible I made some typos with the names and/or links. If so, I'll fix it up at some point! :)

This is very much ONGOING! I have lots and lots and lots of posts to find!

Targeted fandoms so far: Top Gun & Top Gun : Maverick; Teen Wolf; Pacific Rim.

Top Gun & Top Gun: Maverick

{@aiko24601} Bobnix: 1, 2, 3, 4

{@aliceblakeart} Hangster: 1, 2

{@babyrooster} The Bradshaw flock: 1, 2| Daggers Squadron: 1, 2| Hangster: 1, 2| Mav tumblr : 1| TGM songs: 1, 2| TGM movie: 1, 2| TGM Screenplay : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

{@barnes-brain} Bob: 1| Daggers Team: 1, 2, 3| Hangman: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4| Phoenix: 1| Rooster: 1, 2

{@beeeeeta} Baby Goose and family: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22| Rooster: 1, 2

{@beezelarts} Bobnix: 1| Coyote, Hangman & Phoenix: 1| Hangman: 1, 2| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7| Rooster: 1

{@betanoiz} Coyote: 1| Hangman: 1| Hangman, Phoenix, Rooster: 1| Phoenix: 1| Rooster: 1, 2

{@bodty} Goosemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

{@djdangerlove} Dagger Squad: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3| Icemav: 1, 2, 3| Mavdad & Baby Goose: 1, 2| Rooster: 1

{@epiimetheux} Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6| Icemav and Jake: 1

{@fangirling-tussisque-noncaelatur} Hangster: 1

{@farannir} Seresin: 1

{@film-in-my-soul} Pacific Rim AU: 1

{@fluffinpuffin} Daggers family: 1, 2, 3| Rooster: 1, 2

{@forsty} Dagger family: 1| Force Ghost Goose: 1| Goose, Ice, Mav: 1| Goose & Rooster: 1, 2, 3| Hangman: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8| Hangster & Phoenix: 1| Macheresin: 1| Mav & Rooster: 1| Phoenix & Rooster: 1, 2| Rooster: 1| Western Outlawrancher: 1, 2, 3, 4

{@illisius} Dagger team: 1, 2, 3| Dagger team solo: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6| Mav & Rooster: 1, 2

{@k9effect} Bobnix: 1, 2, 3| Bobster: 1, 2, 3| Bradshaw-Mitchell Family: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7| Dagger Squad: 1, 2| Dogger Squad: 1, 2, 3| Hangman: 1, 2, 3| Hangster: 1| Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5| Macheresin: 1| Mav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6| Rooster: 1| Top Gun Posters: 1

{@leatherluxe} Bob: 1| Floydsinshaw: 1| Hangman: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3| Rooster: 1

{@miichiyochin} Animal!Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8| Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15| Icemav & kids: 1, 2

{@miiinnnnn} Hangster: 1| Phoenix: 1| Rooster: 1, 2

{@mustasekittens} Bob: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5| Bob & Fritz: 1, 2| Goose & Rooster: 1| Fanback: 1, 2| Floydsinshaw: 1| Halix: 1| Halix & Hangster: 1| Halo & Yale: 1| Hangman: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3| Rooster: 1, 2| The Daggers family: 1, 2, 3, 4

{@nicedaybucky} Hangman: 1, 2| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18| Hangster & Coyote: 1| Hangster & Phoenix: 1, 2| Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4| Icemav & Goose: 1| Rooster: 1| The Bradshaw-Mitchell flock: 1, 2, 3

{@patbbangg} Bradshaw family: 1| Dagger family: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8| Hangster: 1, 2| Icemav: 1, 2| Icemav and Slider: 1, 2| Icemav and Goose and Slider: 1| Macheresin: 1, 2, 3, 4| Mitchegan: 1| NCIS au: 1, 2| Slicemav and Baby Goose: 1

{@oidingus} Hangster: 1, 2| Hangster & Daggers: 1| Hangster & Icemav: 1| Icemav: 1| Icemav and Goose: 1

{@qedart} Carole & Icemav: 1| Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9| Icemav & Baby Goose: 1| Icemav, Hangster & Phoenix: 1| Pilots & RIOs: 1| Time Warp AU: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

{@qin-ling} Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5| Icemav and the Bradshaws: 1| Icemav, Mav & Baby Goose: 1| Icemav, pilots & RIOs: 1

{@raz-mo} Daggers: 1| Goosemav: 1| Hangman: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6| Mav: 1, 2| Rooster: 1, 2

{@reddbl} Goosemav: 1, 2, 3| Icemav: 1, 2| Mav & the Bradshaws: 1| TC playing dad: 1

{@rooster-soup} Bob: 1| Bradshaw boys: 1, 2| Goosemav bros: 1, 2| Hangster: 1, 2, 3| Iceman: 1| Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4| Phoenix: 1| Rooster: 1

{@sandibullock} Daggers Posters : 1

{@selene-yoshi-chan} Rooster: 1, 2

{@sprinklersart} Iceman: 1| Icemav: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7| The Bradshaws, Ice, Mav, Sli: 1, 2

{@starryinspace} Dagger family: 1| Hangman : 1| Hangster: 1, 2| Hangster & Icemav: 1| Icemav and Charlie: 1| Icemav and Macheresin: 1| Top Gun Movies Trivia: 1, 2

{@wikla} Dagger Squad: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5| Hangster: 1, 2, 3 | Rooster: 1, 2, 3, 4

{@wzlp0} Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5| Hangster, Goose & Mav: 1| Hangster & Mav: 1

{@xivdl} Baby Goose: 1| Bobroo: 1| Floydsin: 1| Floydsinshaw: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3| Hangster & Daggers: 1, 2| Hangster and Fanboy: 1| Icemav: 1| Icemav & Goose & Slider: 1| Mavdad and Baby Goose: 1| Phoenix, Rooster, Hangman & Bob: 1

{@yoonsos22} Hangman: 1, 2, 3| Hangman, Rooster & Young Mav: 1| Hangster: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28| Hangster & Bob: 1| Rooster: 1, 2

#fanart and fangif and fanpost recs #ongoing list #top gun #top gun maverick #teen wolf #pacific rim #top gun fanart #top gun maverick fanart #teen wolf fanart #pacific rim fanart #I dream of going to a fanart exhibition!! <3 #🐈red🐈furry🐈cat🐈tag🐈

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