Si vis amari ama

recently, there was this rage bait post about Sheen's portrayal of Aziraphale and how it connects to very old, homophobic tropes of the effeminate gay man (I know you all saw it). I don't do ragebait, so I didn't engage, but I do think the topic's interesting, so let's get into it shall we?

what the OP completely failed to explain (because they were rage baiting, kept contradicting themself, and had seemingly no idea what they were talking about acutally, duh) was the historical context of that stereotype and how it influences how we as audiences read Sheen's portrayal of Aziraphale and why.

[Edit: After talking to someone in the replies here who discussed with the poster I'm referring to and revisiting that discussion, I must admit that the post read more ragebait-y in the moment than it probably was meant to be taken, and I feel now I was wrong making such a point of it. It's also not really relevant to the main topic or argument of my post anyway, which stands on its own. As I'm not in the habit of hiding my mistakes, this is me owning them.]

you remember that Disney villain you had a crush on when you were a child, only to later realize that said villain, and you, are both queer(coded) as fuck? that stems from the Hays Code. the Hays Code was a self-censorship protocol devised in the early 20th century to keep Hollywood in check ideologically. it stated, roughly paraphrased, that "deviant" characters (gays, communists, etc.) should not be portrayed in a positive light. so what did creators do? they queer-coded their villains, later on the funny side-characters meant to be the butt of the joke. ever heard of the "bury your gays" trope? where there's exactly one gay or queer-coded character, and they die halfway through the film? that's where that comes from. the Hays Code basically said that you can have a queer character, but they can't have a happy ending because that would give audiences the wrong idea about what was "good" and the "right" (aka straight) way of living.

the Hays Code, though long abolished, was very pervasive and influential asthetically, to the point that we still see traces of it in the media made and consumed today. there's a related subplot in the show Sense8: the Mexican actor Lito is outed as gay, and the only roles offered to him going forward are either "villain" or "drug-addicted, HIV-positive side-character who dies halfway through the story". that's also a result of many decades of Hays Code.

so, what happens when you take that kind of portrayal, the mannerisms, the aesthetic, and use it to portray not only not the villain, not only not the side-character meant to be the butt of every joke, but the PROTAGONIST that audiences are meant to identify with and root for, and who also happens to be a literal ANGEL? you subvert the trope. and that's exactly what Sheen's doing by playing Aziraphale the way he does.

by the way: for this to be true, it doesn't matter whether Sheen knows what he's doing or not. it only matters what the audience reads into it AND that there are visible similarities to the way effeminate gay man in older movies were portrayed, which there are.

thanks for coming to my literal TED talk. here's a cute angel and his bitchy eyebrow to make you smile <3

the Hays Code basically said that you can have a queer character, but they can't have a happy ending because that would give audiences the wrong idea about what was "good" and the "right" (aka straight) way of living.

It's become relevant again because:

How is GO3 bury your gays and homophobic you ask? We have two adorable men holding hands and one has a wedding ring and they live together. We've come such a long way!

You know who did not come a long way? Two lesbians. A trans character and his adoring partner. A fussy genderless angel. A sarcastic genderfluid demon. A whole bunch of weird and wonderful demons in fact. And a bunch of nonbinary angels that I swear longed for freedom.

And also:

so, what happens when you take that kind of portrayal, the mannerisms, the aesthetic, and use it to portray not only not the villain, not only not the side-character meant to be the butt of every joke, but the PROTAGONIST that audiences are meant to identify with and root for, and who also happens to be a literal ANGEL? you subvert the trope. and that's exactly what Sheen's doing by playing Aziraphale the way he does.

And yet - (some) people saw Aziraphale and clocked - villain. And hated him. And still do.

The Ways Aziraphale Saves Crowley

The Ways Aziraphale Saves Himself

The Ways Aziraphale Saves Others

𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘈𝘻𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘯, 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘻𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵.

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴… 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳.

I have the honor to collaborate with @fallenwithoutgrace and @crowleyissnek for this hot Good Omens Summer Bang 🔥 (@gosummerbang @goodomensafterdark)

I had so much fun drawing the ineffable wives kissing in the rain 🌧️

Go and read it now ⏩️ “Godiva Resort”

Is fascinated by Aziraphale

Is exasperated by Aziraphale

And delighted by him

The real Crowley despises Hell and finds ways to avoid, bluff and misdirect but keep his job (until it backfires)

Never stood behind Hell's agenda

Helps Aziraphale in the craziest of scenarios

Accompanies Aziraphale for a cake because they've been stressed

Owns a car that is as smitten with the angel as he is

Remembers angel's books when said angel is saving them from an exploding church and a certain vat full of holy water

Plays angel's games

Supports his angel's hobbies

Comes up with funny lines

Has the right attitude towards giving up/despair

Has Imagination

Tries his best with the bookshop

Appreciates and understands Aziraphale's pain

Knows when Aziraphale is in trouble and needs help

Understands Aziraphale (even if he disagrees)

Loves to do watch Aziraphale do whatever

Knows when he's been bested

Thinks Aziraphale is worth writing poetry about

Trusts Aziraphale

Works with Aziraphale

Knows who Aziraphale is

💛

uhhhh

b

OP blocked me but nevermind that now.

Who killed the mood though?

4879 pages of Good Omens fics.

What follows is just rough estimates:

Pre S1 there's about 180 pages of fics in the all media types tag on AO3 2600 pages in the s1-s2 era 1900 pages in s2-s3 (this is fairly equal per day, the s1-s2 was a longer time) Post s3 so far 185 pages (understandable it's low, since it's been 82 days)

but:

495 pages were created post s1 in ~80 days 426 pages post s2 in ~80 days (I thought it would be significantly more - people jumping to fix things?) 185 pages since S3 in ~80 days

For fics tagged with 'fix-it' (151 pages):

12 pages after s1 58 pages in ~80 days after s2 37 in ~80 days after s3

It's not exact or anything, few pages here and there and says nothing about the total amount of words… but still.

S1 ended happily, no fix its required and no one had any idea there might be S2 and yet the fandom exploded. If S3 was happy and good, I am sure there would have been a similar explosion...

The fact that there are far fewer artworks and fics is not the fault of the fans. We aren't the ones who 'killed' the mood.

Why was Crowley there in the first place?

Did Crowley blame Aziraphale? For where he was?

Were we meant to blame Aziraphale? Because it sure feels like it. If Aziraphale insisted he does something for Crowley immediately, would it be a proof of love or guilt?

My point is:

Aziraphale could never win. If he helped, people would still blame him for not coming earlier. I can see it. Too little too late Aziraphale. What did you expect, a warm welcome? Cheater. Amiright?

Was Aziraphale not abandoned for years? Why do people only blame one for not checking on the other?

Was Aziraphale not hurt by Crowley not coming to help him?

Why are we all still blaming just him? Was Aziraphale wrong for leaving?

Aziraphale saved Crowley and Earth from terrible eternity. Crowley did nothing. And yet Aziraphale is blamed and shamed for not doing more.

And then they died. (And Aziraphale is questioned for not fighting harder.)

And yeah I pick sides because of all of the begging I could not escape watching or reading Aziraphale do for years after F15. Because he was the only one wrong. The only one apologising. The only one explaining. The one being punished and being painted as a monster. And then in S3 he's the one painted as thew wrong one, as a taker(??), the only one explaining, the only one trying to reconciliate. The one attempting the dance. Why? What was he wrong about?