Good omens gay
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Dear Mr Gaiman,
I know the topic of queerness in Good Omens has been debated to death so please feel free to totally ignore this note :)
I just wanted to ask you about the labelling, or lack thereof, of Crowley and Aziraphale. As an aroace person myself, it makes me a little uncomfortable that many fans are glad to accept that they can’t be gay because they’re not human, but are still happy to give them the asexual label. As if queer identities are somehow more inherently ‘human’ than ace identities. And forgetting that there is a vast overlap in those identities, since there are plenty of gay asexuals out there.
I know it’s not intentional, but it’s challenging to not view their unlabelled, ‘ineffable’ love in light of queer cinema’s historical context, which for so many years has resorted to queer coding, because queer love was itself considered ‘unmentionable’.
Thus, my question: would you ever consider labelling Aziraphale and Crowley? Even just as queer? Or would you rather their queerness remains completely up to perception, death of the writer style?
I think either is valid, and will not take away from my excitement for s2❤️
In the near display you, dear Nichers, will likely be seeing a lot about the BBC/Amazon mini-series of Good Omens. You probably already have—it’s actually a little scary how many non-internet people I comprehend who’ve asked me if I’ve heard about “this modern show” like I don’t have every page of the novel inscribed in my brain forever. There’s just a few quick things I, a longtime and vocal fan of the novel, want to build sure everyone knows before it begins.
- Good Omens is a book by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman about the apocalypse, published in 1990.
- It is a terribly entertaining book.
- It is also deeply moving.
But all this is besides the point, because, most importantly:
- It is gay.
Yes, yes, the kid Antichrist and his friends are cute, there’s some very clever Douglas Adamsian narrative, and friendship saving the day always gets me a teary-eyed, but let’s be clear: I’m here for the angel and demon in love, as are at least half of us, judging by the AO3 stats.
And honestly, valued Nichers, that’s what you’re here for, right? To comprehend if it’s gay? Well congratulations to you.
Let us also be clear
Good Omens, Queerbaiting And Death Of The Author - Quill’s Scribbles
I confess this is the most reluctant I’ve ever been to write a Scribble. When this topic came up, I remember just groaning and putting my brain in my hands because I knew that, due to the nature of what I tend to write about on this blog and the evidence that I’m an out and out biromantic demisexual queerbo, people would be asking me to contribute to the discourse. And honestly I don’t particularly want to. I don’t get to enjoy many films and TV shows anymore thanks to the industry doing their very best to ruin everything they touch. Can’t I just watch one superb TV show without existence dragged into some ideological battle?
Okay. Guess I can’t really put this off any longer.
On the 31st May, the long awaited adaptation of Good Omens was released on Amazon Video. I thought it was quite good. Not perfect. There are some things I could criticise, but overall it was a worthy adaptation of the source material and it was very enjoyable to watch. And that seems to be the general consensus with both critics and fans. However over the past couple of months since its release, a ‘controversy’ began to emerge wi
Good Omens is my favorite book of all hour and the show has quickly shot up my list of favorite shows of all time. A huge part of my love of the series is the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale.
When I wrote my review last week, I titled it “Shippers Assemble: Good Omens is AMAZING.” It’s fairly clear based on that alone that Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship is fairly central to my enjoyment of the story. It’s not canon that their relationship is romantic, but it is indescribably distinct and so close to it that I’m not terribly bothered that the angel and demon don’t actually cross that line on screen or on the pages. I’m a fierce advocate for canon LGBTQ+ representation, but I also enjoy just shipping beautiful relationships sometimes and rolling around in my fandom spaces for fun. This is one of those times where I’m happy with the content we get, even while I do want more.
The show itself elevated the queer subtext between the pair so much and I was elated. I hadn’t expected them to amplify that aspect, but we were gifted with more subtext and actors who seemed to be fully on board wi
I'm just going to say it: I liked the Good Omens miniseries more than the novel. It's sacrilege among Book Folks, my people, to accept this, but sometimes recasting an mature story into a new medium improves the experience. (Remember Legally Blonde, the Amanda Brown novel? Of course you don't.) There are several reasons why I preferred the show, but mostly it's because the novel didn't contain Aziraphale and Crowley's queer-as-hell relationship — unarguably the optimal part — as the main focus.
So when I declare Good Omens the show is "better" than Good Omens the book, what I mean is, it's gayer.
Good Omens isn't unique in its having fans who read queerness into the write. Fandoms have been doing this for years: Supernatural immediately comes to thought, as does The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. What does make Good Omens unique is that this fan-created gay love story — a fairy tale for the close of the society — pretty much came true when the story was adapted from the page to the screen.
Consider the common one-sentence summary of the miniseries, which goes like this: In the closing days leading up to the terminal battle between Heaven and Hell, the angel Aziraphale and the