#good omens fandom and ofmd fandom are 'biblical buddies'

[ineffablemossy]

Good Omens Fandom assemble! It's that time again...

Another Amazon Prime poll that we need to turn around. You know what to do:

https://www.youtube.com/@PrimeVideo/community

Currently at 25% in 3rd place, but I know we can change that quickly. NOTE: if you're on mobile open the link in your browser and choose 'desktop mode' to view the community tab (shoutout to everyone who put this tip in the comments of my last poll post!)

[chibiseakraken]

Something I've noticed being on the sidelines of both the Our Flag Means Death and Good Omens fandoms...

While there does seem to be quite a lot of similarities, I find the differences interesting.

The similarities are likely commonalities between most fandoms. I have to assume the similarities are rather consistent. I'm rather new to all of this, even though I've been around these spaces since Firefly was a huge thing.

What amuses me is that during the period after OFMD came out I observed and found myself drawing more and more. I delved more into art. Not just art in general but learning and striving to be better at specific mediums. With Good Omens I found myself looking up historical and literary references, going back to the Good Omens book, reading and rereading other peoples research on topics surrounding symbolism and literature. I also wrote more in general.

I am already a hobby artist, but I neglect my practices. This being said, I noticed several other people reacting to OFMD in the same way. I feel like this is the influence of people involved in the show. There are some notably outward artistic and creative individuals on the show and behind the show.

Most shows have people like this, but with ofmd, the cast and crew seemed to be the driving force behind creativity in the fans. One of the stars, director, and producers is a visual artist who promotes visual art. The creator himself is more of a visual artist in that he draws inspiration more from movies and television than the written word.

With Good Omens, there seemed to be a draw more towards indepth analysis of plot and character; a focus on critical thinking. This was reinforced by much more thoughtful writing overall. Note that I'm not saying better. Both shows have extremely creative writers writing fan fiction. Good Omens seems to have more literary influence backed by extensive research and psychoanalysis. The original having been a satire based on biblical characters and themes might be the key here. What I found most interesting is, that while I write a lot more, I have not published any of the writing for others to read. I keep reworking it as if it were entirely a fiction story of my own creation. I want to get it right. My writing for OFMD was more fun, silly, and angsty.

I do want to point out I noticed a fair amount of people in the OFMD looking at the visual symbolism in the show itself. I found that interesting. It is indeed a similarity to Good Omens, but I feel the flavor is slightly different. OFMD symbolism is mostly visual as in color choice, flowers, scenery, props, costuming, and visual cues. This goes in line with my visual artist focus for this show.

Both fandoms lean greatly into music. I suppose this makes sense, because, a. many creative people use music as an outlet, and b. both shows have creators who use music heavily as a theme in their works. Good Omens would not be the same without Queen, Buddy Holly, great classical and romatic era music, and a mention of the Velvet Underground. OFMD would also not be the same without the song The Chain, Cat Stevens, Eric Satie, Moondog, Leonard Cohen, and Lou Reed.

This being said, I personally felt more freedom to play with music and make playlists for OFMD. I'm a musician and this is a long standing hobby of mine. Good Omens did not inspire me to make playlists as much as I saw others doing it. I was either too focused on critical thinking and history research or I felt that the song selection was less of an inspiration to add more of my own and more a solid fact. These are the songs, find their significance. For me this is part of the difference between the two shows.

What it really comes down to, for me, is that one show made me feel like I was a part of something, a crew working together and the goal was creativity and celebrating queerness in many forms. The other show helped me understand or rather question an individual's place in the world. Who are we, as humans, and why do we make life so darned difficult for each other. But also, it is possible to enjoy life more fully if we allow ourselves the freedom.

Extra: I loved how a certain faction of OFMD fandom/cast brought their own personalities into the fandom. Two great examples are the famous orange cake recipe and the cryptid inspired ARG based on a similar but fictional show.