#aziraphale is a good boi

[ineffable-suffering]

A Small Nugget of Appreciation for the Good Omens Cinematography

i‘m by far not the most qualified person to analyse cinematographic details and the way shows are shot, BUT: upon re-watching S1 for the quazillionth time, i finally figured out what it was that always made me so horrendously uncomfortable about that One Scene in S1E3, when Aziraphale goes to Heaven to tell the archangels what he figured out about the Antichrist (who‘s not actually the Antichrist, whoopsie-doodles).

it just always made me feel so uncomfortable because, well, the way they’re having this conversation is absolutely awkward, as per usual, but it‘s not just that. i took a closer look at how the whole scene is shot and then the metaphorical lightbulb (let there be light!) went up over my head. okay, so, here‘s the deal:

at first, we get this extremely wide-angel shot of Gabriel and the other archangels walking into the room. (sidenote: Azirphale is already there and waiting, so they absolutely made that dramatic, weirdly lined-up enterance on purpose, probably to Assert Angelic Dominance, lol). like, you almost have to squint to see them in the massive, empty hall that is Heaven. it gives you an immense feeling of distance. coldness, even. angels are always described as "beings of love and light" but this shot, among many other things that happen in this show, shows us that that‘s not actually true when it comes to each other (and to humans too, let‘s be real: the archangels don‘t give a goat’s rat's ass about what happens in and to the World).

so anyway, this shot immediately let‘s us know two things:

they rudely let Aziraphale wait for them to do their little runway walk with all the attention being on them

there is no closeness, friendliness or warmth between any of them and least of all towards Aziraphale

you can see this very well in one of the other shots while they‘re all still talking:

you‘d think this was a candid from 2020, mid-pandemic, with how far they‘re all standing apart from each other. and they‘re all facing Aziraphale like a wall. a clear statement: you‘re over there, we‘re over here. you‘re not one of us. (also notice how they‘re not facing him in a centered way but that it‘s actually only really Gabriel who‘s opposite of Aziraphale? despite being the first one to have entered from the right? again: hirarchyyyy)

and now comes the part that stands in such stark contrast to these wide, open, distant shots: the extreme, almost fish-eye-like close ups:

these scenes of then talking are what made me feel so uncomfortable and sort of out of place. i don’t know about you, but they almost make me want to take a physical step back from the screen to get some distance. it‘s like Gabriel and his squad are really distant but in the next second they’re invading ones personal space and– oh, hm. well. that’s exactly it, isn’t it?

it‘s firmly established that they don’t care about Aziraphale, least of all see him as an equal. both by the opening shot and the way they speak to him. but then that feeling is being interrupted with them absolutely crowding Aziraphale up against the figurative wall (aka our tv screen) and interrogating him. they‘re all up in his business as soon as he reveals he has information they might want. they’re nosy, inquisitive and they make both Aziraphale and us feel very uncomfortable and invaded in our space.

in all the ways, this scene conveys on both a dialogue and cinematographic level, that Heaven and the archangels are extremely distant and cold towards each other (and Aziraphale), while at the same time getting way too uncomfortably close and up in Azi‘s business as soon as they suspect he has information they may want.

and one last observation: during this whole conversation, none of the archangels are ever filmed together in one shot (unless it shows all of them vs. Aziraphale):

which is just another way of showing: they’re only "united" when it‘s them against whoever they see as inferior/a threat to them. but when it comes to the archangels as a group just by themselves, they‘re no less distant, weary and unliking of each other than they are with Aziraphale (or Muriel, for example, in S2).

in S1E1 hastur and ligur make a this whole big deal about „demons not trusting each other“ and we‘re made to believe that it‘s probably different with angels. but it‘s not. they‘re nothing short of untrustworthy themselves and proper assholes to everyone within and also outside of their own ranks. same thing as demons, just in neat suits.

except for Aziraphale, of course, God and Satan bless his heart.

alright, that's it. crappy cinematography analysis over. see you again when my hyperfixation catches on another one of the ten million details in this show, xoxo.

[maarigolds]

Neil Gaiman's favorite trope

[diavalkitty]

Oo-oh

I am the sand in bottom half of the hourglass...

[mizgnomer]

Hippity-Hoppity Crowley

[rumble-bee-art]

A 6000+ years old demon thinks he can mend his broken heart by driving to the stars. Fool

[technically-human]

I delivered

[lokis-bitter-ghost]

ships in the neil gaiman universe are so funny to me because you have

two guys who are both dead, one who died in the edwardian era and then was sent to hell for 70 years and one who died in the late 80s who decided not to (potentially) go to heaven to stick with some guy he met a minute ago

a LITERAL angel and a LITERAL demon who have known each other since literally the beginning of THE UNIVERSE

and a guy who said "actually i think i dont wanna die. what if i just didnt" and then he actually never did because death thought it would be funny and death's brother, the god of dreams, who thought the other guy would get tired of being immortal and is sticking around to see if he does

[bookholichany]

How Neil Gaiman killed me...

[golswia]

getting ready for a halloween 🎃🎃🎃

[magicomens]

How to make Merlin's fight or flight instinct kick in

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[lesbianballofgender]

Happy 55th birthday to our feral, light and fluffy, serious actor and truly just the nicest person: Michael Sheen!!

[ngatwa]

Good Omens: The Ball / Dead Boy Detectives: The Case of Crystal Palace

[amu-says-hav-says]

I can’t believe I went through all of Season 2 assuming Nina was the stand-in for Crowley when you actually pay attention it’s so CLEAR that she’s Aziraphale. I was tricked by her spiky, sarcastic, cynical outer shell and lulled into a false sense of security by Maggie’s bubbly optimism and wholesome goodness, because on the surface they reflect the ineffable husbands perfectly, in their personalities, their aesthetics, even many of their actions and morals. but not, and this is the real key, when it comes to their “relationship��. but those first impressions really had me damn fooled. 

I missed the blatantness of Nina’s “we’re just friends. actually we’re not friends. we barely know each other.” the same thing Aziraphale said in season 1.  the way he still struggles to quantify their friendship when Nina asks. Nina’s sarcasm when Crowley asks about rain and awnings because it worked for him (we all know it LMAO). hell, that whole convo the girls have in the rain is so AziraCrow (“I know. I’m not your type” “...You have no idea” hits so much harder the second time, help meeeee.) “Lindsay” maybe being symbolic of Heaven and Aziraphale’s toxic relationship with them and their abuse? (the handwritten text messages in red pen make me think of angry notes on paperwork, anyone else?) because Crowley has never actually cared about what Hell thinks of him, just not getting into trouble (or him or Aziraphale getting hurt). Maggie is always chasing Nina. NINA NEVER GOES IN THE RECORD STORE. Just like Crowley always goes to the bookstore, to Aziraphale, Zira NEVER WENT TO THE FLAT (apart from The Swap but that doesn’t count imo). Crowley has always chased Zira, not the other way around. Always there to rescue him, always going to him for company, always relying on their shared connection, always US. OUR SIDE. All through season one, he comes to Zira every time to work together, never trying to work alongside Hell in any way that isn’t to save their skins or Earth, while Zira hides things from Crowley because he STILL thinks Heaven is ultimately good and will do the right thing if he can just show them. fix it from the inside. 

Maggie working up the courage to finally say something, to put herself out there, while Nina is utterly oblivious and then when she does realise Maggie has feelings, becoming standoffish, putting up that barrier, fighting it, denying it, ITS SO CROWLEY AND AZIRAPHALE IN THAT ORDER. the way I was fooled into thinking Nina’s trust issues are Crowley because he does have trust issues ofc he does BUT Crowley has ALWAYS TRUSTED AZIRAPHALE. has always relied on him. has always been hurt when Aziraphale doesn’t immediately reciprocate the way he expects (the holy water request, the bandstand, the “off in the stars” etc). he’s always the one putting himself forward. Aziraphale has always been the one to second guess everything, to fight their connection, their similarities, their friendship. the girls really made me think it was going to be okay when they sat Crowley down, even as my inner sirens were going haywire about Metatron interfering, they were telling Crowley he just needs to open up and it’ll all work out BUT HE’S ALREADY AT THAT POINT. he may not say it, and by gosh is that part of their damn problem, but he’s always SHOWN IT. he’s not Nina who needs time to heal and recover from her broken trust, he’s always been Maggie believing it doesn’t matter, they’ll end up together in the end anyway AND I WALKED RIGHT INTO THE TRAP THAT THIS MEANT THEY WERE GOING TO BE OKAYYYYYYYYYYY

[sherlock-is-ace]

ok hear me out

[biceratops7]

Here's a neat detail:

Not to talk about season 1 Good Omens in the year of our Lord and Season 3 announcement 2023, but I kind of just realized another little moment that's very sweet and true to real life.

I really like that Crowley isn't just fine again after he learns Aziraphale survived the bookshop burning after all. Normally in stories when there's a "surprise, I'm alive!" moment, the characters just kind of celebrate for a minute and then move on business as usual. But Crowley doesn't. He continues to be visibly be shaken and a little unfocused throughout his conversation with Aziraphale, and when he has to explain what happened, he starts crying again.

I don't know I just thought that was a really nice detail because anyone who's experienced similar whiplash in real life knows about that... residual grief period I guess? I think this was a core memory that informed a lot of Crowley's behavior in season 2, you don't ever really forget that moment you lost them no matter how brief. There's just something very loving and vulnerable in him being like "I thought you were gone, and even though I know now you're ok, I want you to know just thinking about it upsets me deeply."

[gleafer]

The totally outrageous 80s, where Crowley is in his punk era and Az discovers girls just wanna have fun.