Along with the rest of the world, I had a chuckle at the petition directed at Netflix by an organization named Christian Return to Order, concerning the show Good Omens, signed by 20,000+ people demanding the show be taken off of Netflix. As Netflix doesn’t produce nor carry Good Omens, it’s a bit of a no-op; it’s an offering from Amazon Prime.
And we’ve actually seen it. Good Omens is, first and foremost, about the friendship between the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley (aka Crawley, aka the Snake in the Garden), and how that relationship compels both to seek to stop, or at least circumvent, the final war.
I’m not sure what these petition-signers find objectionable. Perhaps it’s simply the modern notion that war, destruction, death, and that whole thing is not an event to be awaited with bated breath, but rather avoided through the intelligent and careful application of diplomacy and, dare I say it, good faith.
But that probably leads to the big, underlying objection: the portrayal of the angels. Aziraphale is certainly a bit foggy and naive, but angels superior to him in the hierarchy appear to have been stripped of moral stricture. They hunger for war, glory, and all the supposed good things that go with battle and conquest. The question of how creatures not considered to be moral agents has been addressed before, such as in Constantine (2005), in which an angel complains that humanity is the only creatures worthy of some sort of glory, all while committing treachery of his or her own – a very moral choice indeed. But I’m not sure how angels, some of which followed Satan into Hell and continue to indulge in morally unhealthy choices millennia later can be considered to be outside of the moral arena.
So, in that respect, we’re once again following the thematic path I mentioned in my review of Ghostbusters (1984): the exploration of the ongoing obsolescence of the concept of divinity for mankind. Why do believers become outraged when their gods are mocked? If the divine lead an independent existence, then, hey, THEY’RE GODS. They can deal with a bit of mockery. But that inner doubt of the frantic believer knows that the mockery threatens to extinguish something taken definitionally on faith, something that cannot be proven – and therefore might just not actually exist.
Good Omens, by suggesting there’s a fly in the ointment of divinity, is that mockery, and so the faithful, yet doubtful, are called to reject it. From the article, I glean that the faithful worry about immorality being portrayed:
“This series presents devils and Satanists as normal and even good, where they merely have a different way of being, and mocks God’s wisdom,” the petition reads.
And yet, having watched all the episodes quite carefully, it’s difficult to reconcile this criticism with the themes of the series. Without a doubt, the demon Crowley is dragged from a position of evil, if you will, to a system of thought which implicitly acknowledges the wrongs he (it?) committed yesterday through his efforts to avert a war. His story arc is from the archetype of evil to another sinner, trying to do good in a world of tears. The theme of redemption is a popular theme, popular because it acknowledges the stresses of everyday life, whether it be today or thousands of years ago.
If Aziraphale, the angel, had met Crowley half way, morally speaking, in their effort to avert a divine war, if he’d even agreed to maliciously step on an ant, our petitioners might have something, but Aziraphale does not, in the arena of morality, truly change. Not in the least. However, he does rebel – against the plans and directives of the angels above him in the hierarchy. The petitioners may consider this rebellion to be dreadfully immoral, but the immorality of superiors has come to be understood to not be a defense for immorality of the underlings. We are all expected to behave as moral agents, with no option to hand that responsibility to others. If this is their basis for concern, then I should direct them back to their Bibles, because their faith in hierarchy is flawed.
Good Omens is otherwise good fun, with entertaining special effects, although I must admit I found the two leads to be a little repetitive. If you have some hours and want something that’s a little reminiscent of a toned down Monty Python, this might be your cup of tea.
