{"id":1563,"date":"2025-11-03T23:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=1563"},"modified":"2025-11-03T23:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:57:12","slug":"heaven-is-frozen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2025\/11\/03\/heaven-is-frozen\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven is frozen"},"content":{"rendered":"

In <\/span>Angels in America<\/span><\/i>, Tony Kushner uses the stillness of angels to show that change is what keeps humans alive. This becomes very clear in the scene where Prior meets the Angel. The Angel arrives in a huge dramatic moment and we expect something inspiring. Instead, she tells Prior that humans need to stop changing at all. She orders, \u201cStop moving!\u201d and says that Heaven is breaking down because people keep doing new things like moving, inventing, loving and changing who they are. To the Angels, change seems dangerous. The Angel even talks about humans being \u201cinfected\u201d with change like it\u2019s some kind of disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kushner makes it obvious that the Angel is wrong. Heaven is frozen in place and as a result, is falling apart, but humans keep moving. Even though Prior is scared and confused, he doesn\u2019t give up. He questions the Angel and refuses to stop living his life. His reaction shows that change, even when it\u2019s painful, is part of being human. People grow up, fall in love and fight for their lives. If we stop changing, we stop surviving.<\/span><\/p>\n

By showing the Angels stuck in the past and humans move towards the future, Kushner proves that change is a necessity. Staying the same is what actually messes with people. For the queer characters in the play, movement and change are more than just ideas. So even in a world full of sickness and fear, Kushner says that the only way forward is to keep going.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Angels in America, Tony Kushner uses the stillness of angels to show that change is what keeps humans alive. This becomes very clear in the scene where Prior meets the Angel. The Angel arrives in a huge dramatic moment and we expect something inspiring. Instead, she tells Prior that humans need to stop changing … Continue reading Heaven is frozen<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5709,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1566,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions\/1566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}