I have had guy friends cry because I enthusiastically asked to do their hair in plaits. I have shave my head out of hair frustration a lot but I loved braiding my own hair. like, crown braid casually during a test instead of a ponytail when I needed my hair off my face type speed braiding. and I have a lot of guy friends with that long flowy Viking hair. gal friends love me doing their hair, paid me to do it for prom and shit, so I started asking my male friends to plait their hair like a viking. I stg, some have cried. some freeze like a internet explorer tab.
and this is a thing we just DID at sleepovers to each other as girls! I am used to this level of “let me get uncomfortably close and bond with you” monkey type grooming. it breaks my heart when I compliment a man or offer a sincere “that’s fucked bruh” bear hug and they hesitate or seem to look for a trick. y'all be touch starved and get shit when you try and seek it from anyone in a non sexual context, how is this not a set up for unhealthy thoughts about self worth?
Something that I noticed during the conversation the Metatron has with Aziraphale.
He says de facto partnership. De facto partnership! Not just de facto, but adds partnership!
General definition of de facto partnership:
A couple who aren’t married but who live together as a domestic couple.
The Metatron isn’t just saying that he’s aware of the friendship Aziraphale and Crowley have formed, he’s full on implying that Heaven believes they are romantically linked. No wonder Aziraphale looks so pissed. He knows he’s being threatened in the highest degree.
I’m sure people have pointed that out before, but once again I’m over here getting my mind blown by things clicking into place.
Thanks for posting this.
I noticed the threat, of course, and the knowledge and malice behind it, but I was thinking 10-20 years back, when "de facto partnership" was only a business dealing.
Now that "partner" can mean a romantic one, that does open up other possibilities I hadn't considered by my archaic usage! It may be purposefully ambiguous as well.
Something I've been wondering about for a while now. And I know it'll most likely never get explained, but I'm curious anyway.
Crowley often appears distracted, like he's lost in thought or eavesdropping on something no one else can hear. It happens in both seasons: when Aziraphale talks about the paintball guns (srsly, rewatch the scene and observe Crowley: he clearly tunes in with a slight delay), when the angel asks for a volunteer for the bullet catch, when he touches Crowley's arm after Gabriel and Beelzebub reveal their relationship.
I'm convinced that this is a deliberate acting choice, that David was instructed by Neil to perform this way. But I can't figure out why. Is he eavesdropping a "demon radio"? Is he constantly scanning the surroundings for demonic presence (doubtful, Shax took him by surprise, as did the demons during the body swap)? Does his mind go blank for Fall-related reasons? Is he gazing across timelines or parallel dimensions??
The moment in the record shop when Aziraphale said he was picking up a Shostakovich record I had So Many Thoughts.
The symphony he's listening to is Symphony No.5 in D Minor, Op. 47, composed in 1937 and premiered in Leningrad to a thirty+ minute long standing ovation. Prior to this piece, Dimitri S. spent many nights sleeping in the hallway outside of his apartment so that his family wouldn't see if the government police in charge of enforcing Stalin's brutal rule came for him in the middle of the night. His last pieces had been received harshly by critics and called unpatriotic, which was just about the worst thing a composer living during The Great Terror (1936-1938) could do. Those who were not loyal to the regime and explicitly portrayed it in their art were branded as traitors and sent to gulags or were straight up executed.
The San Francisco Symphony describes the 5th symphony as "the story of a fall from grace and redemption.". Shostakovitch has gone from being a golden example to being eyed as a traitor almost overnight, the 5th Symphony becoming his redemption back into good graces.
So basically Dimitri S. was a man with contrasting ideologies to the powers that be, so to say, who was living under the threat of death, torture, or excommunication from his homeland. Haha, so weird that Aziraphale would want to listen to his music specifically.
(If you've never listened to Symphony No. 5, I highly encourage you to go listen!)
To set the scene-
From The Houston Symphony's 2018 Fighting the Barbarian Artist article on Symph. 5:
"In January 1934, Dmitri Shostakovich scored one of the biggest triumphs of his career with the premiere of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, a work official critics hailed as the first great Soviet opera. Based on a nineteenth-century novella by Leskov, it follows the misadventures of Katerina, the illiterate wife of a well-to-do country merchant who is driven to murder in order to be with her handsome but unworthy lover, the laborer Sergei. By turns satirical and tragic, Lady Macbeth explored themes of oppression with a potent combination of sex, violence and some truly beautiful music that played to full houses for two years.
Then on January 26, 1936, Stalin went to see it. Two days later, on page 3 of Pravda (“Truth”—the newspaper that continues to serve as the official mouthpiece of the Russian Communist Party to this day), Shostakovich found an anonymous review of Lady Macbeth headlined “Muddle Instead of Music.” One representative quote declared that the opera “tickles the perverted tastes of the bourgeoisie with its fidgety, screaming, neurotic music…”"
...
There is debate about if Stalin himself wrote the review to make a point, or if he just signed off on it being printed. It's also unclear if Shostakovitch was being targeted specifically, or just because of his notoriety to prove that no matter how big a name you are you're not safe if you don't fall in line, or if he was just being used as a pawn in the ongoing power struggles of the day.
Either way, he was very aware that he was in danger. A friend of Stalin's was vanished when he wrote to Stalin in defense of Shostakovitch's work after the fateful review.
The 5th was a result of Dimitri knowing he needed to get back into good graces, so he had to give them something that they wanted. Or at least something that sounded like what they wanted.
Symphony No. 5 is very sneaky in how it subverts the expectations and requirements of Stalin's Russia.
For one, it's form- a symphony is a very structured form and very Western, popularized by Beethoven and co. It's also instrumental, which allowed Shostakovitch to hide a lot of references, subversions, and musical sarcasm/critiques without the untrained critics and government officials being any the wiser.
D minor, the main tonality of the symphony, has been described by various music theorists about what kind of emotional experience it portrays. John Mattheson in 1713 described it as "Serious, Pious, Ruminating. Melancholy, feminine, brooding worries, contemplation of negativity."
However, for our purposes, Aziraphale is listening to the fourth movement, which is also the most political. (More excellent write ups about the entire work can be read here, here, here, and here. There is a PBS documentary about it here.) ((It also shifts to an ironic D Major as one point, which Mattheson describes as "Triumphant, Victorious War-Cries. Screaming hallelujah’s, rejoicing in conquering obstacles. War marches, holiday songs, invitations to join the winning team."))
The fourth movement is bombastic, letting the brass section loose right at the start. The main theme in this section is from an unpublished song that Shostakovitch had written as a setting for a Pushkin poem. The piece as a whole and specifically this movement is a direct critique of Stalin himself.
The poem?
With sleepy brush the barbarian artist
The master’s painting blackens;
And thoughtlessly his wicked drawing
Over it he is daubing.
But in years the foreign colors
Peal off, an aged layer:
The work of genius is ‘gain before us,
With former beauty out it comes.
Thus my failings vanish too
From my wearied soul,
And again within it visions rise,
Of my early purer days.
Which I think speaks for itself in what kind of mentality Aziraphale might have listening to the symphony.
I'm not sure which recording he listens to, but in the record shop we are shown that it's a record with a blue label on the disk. There are several recordings that have blue labels including the 1972 Moscow Philharmonic with Kiril Kondrashin and the 1989 Scottish National Orchestra with Neeme Jarvi. Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic have a very famous recording as well.
But I think the most likely is the 1962 Vienna Philharmonic with Constantin Silvestri. Why? Well, here's the record:
Cute idea about the Angel record, but here's the screencap :
(from halemerry)
The rest is spot-on. What I think it emphasizes is that when Aziraphale says "Heaven is good!" in the present day he is performing for oppressive overlords. He may no longer be "officially" working for Heaven, but he is still under surveillance, he knows he & Crowley are not free or safe. He doesn't believe in the goodness of Heaven any more than a thoughtful Soviet citizen believed in the truthfulness of Pravda, but he know better than to *say* so.
Thanks! (I will choose to think that Aziraphale has a copy of the Angel Records version stashed away somewhere anyway haha!)
That closeup of the record goes by in a blink, clearly it was late at night- below is the record I was looking at, so it's possible he got multiple recordings of the same symphony or the close up of the record is of the next one down in his stack of Shostakovitch.
But it being the Bernstein recording is even more delicious!
Because Leonard Bernstein was also a composer and conductor who was under threat from the government, on multiple fronts.
(If you are unfamiliar with Bernstein's work, to sum it up very very shortly; He is mostly known for his work with the New York Philharmonic, with whom he did many recordings. He also had a long running tv show that introduced classical music to young people called Young People's Concerts, where children in NYC were invited to Carnegie Hall and the orchestra would play for them while Bernstein explained what was happening with the music and why it was written the way it was. He's also a much beloved composer behind shows like West Side Story, On The Town, Candide, and works like his Chichester Psalms and MASS. He remains one of the biggest names in United States classical music to this day. Highly highly recommend looking into his life, music, and writings!)
He and his wife, Felicia, were supporters of groups like The Black Panthers and their public and private support of various progressive groups got them put on a FBI watchlist. (Leonard's report was over 800 pages long when it was released. I got to see a copy at the display in the 2018 Bernstein: The Power of Music and it's insane.)
Bernstein was also gay and Jewish in times where those were both Very Unpopular things to be in America. (Except of course in the musical theater realm of NYC, "To be a success as a Broadway composer, you must be Jewish or gay. I'm both.") He was one of the first major names to start publicly raising funds and awareness for AIDS/HIV research, starting in 1986 with a celebrity fundraising concert. Many of his works depict queer themes that reflect the time periods they were written in as well.
AND he knew Dimitri Shostakovitch. (Here's them shaking hands after a concert in Moscow, 1959)
(Sidenote: Shosty saw and enjoyed ALW's Jesus Christ Superstar, which I find delightful lmao.)
It's a 2-for-1 special!
From NPR:
There are more than 50 recordings of the Symphony No. 5, but Leonard Bernstein's performance with the New York Philharmonic stands out for its emotion and timeliness. It was made right after Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic returned from touring the Soviet Bloc in the summer of 1959. They spent 20 days in the Soviet Union and performed Symphony No. 5 in the presence of Shostakovich himself. This recording captures the excitement of that meeting.
and from Julliard, on the concert for Bernstein's 100th birthday:
The Juilliard Orchestra’s Carnegie Hall program makes the connection between Bernstein and Shostakovich explicit, pairing Bernstein’s still unjustly neglected Songfest (1977) with Shostakovich’s best-known symphony, the Fifth, a specialty of Bernstein’s. In 1966, Bernstein said of Shostakovich, “Out of this shy man, hidden behind his eyeglasses, has come some of the most powerful, brash, un-shy music ever written,” adding, “Shostakovich has a lot to say, musically, and very often what he says is noble, original, and deeply moving.” No matter to Bernstein that it was the middle of the Cold War. The occasion was one of Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, his enormously successful TV series; the program was “A Birthday Tribute to Shostakovich”—the Soviet composer turned 60 that year.
On the New York Philharmonic’s historic tour to the Soviet Union in 1959, Bernstein conducted Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony—which would become one of his signature interpretations—in the presence of the composer, who made it known that he was “very taken by the performance.”
Bernstein—whose parents were Jewish immigrants from the former Russian Empire—was a protégé of another Russian émigré, Serge Koussevitzky, who profoundly influenced his sense of musical values, especially as they related to the European tradition. Bernstein was one of Koussevitzky’s inaugural conducting fellows at the new Boston Symphony Orchestra’s new summer headquarters in the Berkshires, and when Koussevitzky led the BSO in Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony at the newly established Tanglewood Festival, Bernstein played the bass drum.
Bernstein and Shostakovich were two composers who, albeit in very different contexts, faced considerable critical resistance from many of their own self-described “progressive” colleagues for writing “accessible” music instead of following the avant-garde drumbeat. So it’s altogether fitting to celebrate Bernstein’s birthday in part with the music of his fellow titan.
In regards to the 4th movement of Symph. 5, in the Bernstein recording he takes the allegro non troppo nearly double the listed speed, which is what Aziraphale is listening to in the scene. Wherein things start happening very fast.
I like the idea that Crowley has always been sensitive about this. But his angel loves him in all forms <3
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Jon Pountey uploaded a beautiful photograph to his Instagram of our earth angel, Michael Sheen, to promote the relaunch of the new Welsh National Theatre.
He may not have the blonde hair yet, but this photo is sheer heaven 🥹☁️✨
Thanks to @gaiaseyes451 @nonamejustlurking and @simonezitrone79 for the tags!
Last song: Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. She is so great!
Favourite colour: purple
Last book: I’m currently reading The Book Binder of Jericho and it’s fucking gorgeous, full on angst and pining (oh boy I seem to like a theme…)
Last movie: Paddington 3. Took the kids and they loved it. It’s a great film, though not as good as the first two, but still utterly enjoyable. And I sobbed quite a bit at the end!
Last TV show: just finished season 4 of What We Do In The Shadows. Great show, utterly hilarious! That finale broke my heart a little (oh man, what is with me?!)
Sweet/spicy/savoury: definitely sweet
Last thing I searched online: Paul Kidby’s artwork.
Current obsession: look, I’m sure we can all guess what that is, but if it’s not clear, it’s Good Omens now and forever.
Looking forward to: (well apart from HAIR pictures and the finale getting released) Have planned a trip to Melbourne in June to see Critical Role live when they finally tour to Australia! (Though sending all thoughts and prayers to them as I know a lot of their crew is currently affected by the wildfires in LA)
People I’d like to know better: no pressure tags to the following: @hellogoodomens @seriouslygoodomens @hyperfixating-rn-brb @pinkladypant @miranda61 @hippychick67-fan-blog @theautistichag @leoreadss @hikarry
Gabriel doesn't have his memory in 2.01 but he knows on a fundamental level that looks can be deceiving and a being's identity is more than their face. He learned that when the love of his life got a new face and he accepted it easily because a person is more than their appearance. What someone looks like is just one of the ways to determine who they are and people might not be who you think.
Aziraphale let Gabriel into the bookshop because, fundamentally, he recognized in the Gabriel-looking being who showed up at the door the possibility that Jim was a side of Gabriel that Aziraphale didn't know as well but had glimpsed before a little in the past enough to believe existed. In this way, Aziraphale really did recognize Gabriel.
But Aziraphale and the angels did not recognize the last visitor to the bookshop in 2.06 and the being who identified him-- Crowley-- is subject to The Devil's deception. There is still no proof at all that Aziraphale actually got into the elevator with The Metatron because we can't prove that being actually was The Metatron. Everyone assuming that he is because of his face might be overlooking the clue in Gabriel's dialogue back at the start of the season.
obsessed with the fact that Crowley is the one who's drunk on poison and unsteady on his feet here yet Aziraphale is the one swinging towards him like a horny pendulum
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