#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]

[diavalkitty]

Oo-oh

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

[mizgnomer]

Hippity-Hoppity Crowley

[technically-human]

I delivered

[rumble-bee-art]

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

[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

[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.

[arlospace]

12. Clue

Where else in London are you supposed to get a 2000 year old cursed book?