MASH

M.A.S.H was a very good movie filled with some crude and slapstick humor that was not always said but rather implied. It tackles themes such as invasion, homosexuality, and sex.

One thing I noticed throughout the movie was that the characters constantly talked over each other. This may have been added to the movie for comedic value, but I think that it kind of parallels U.S. actions during that time. M.A.S.H was filmed in 1970 at the height of the cold war and the film takes place near the front line in the Korean War. Korea was the first place that the U.S. “Talked over”, so to speak, during the Cold War, it was not the last. I view the talking over of the soldiers as a parallel to the United States imposing its will on rather helpless countries during the cold war.

Another social problem of the time addressed in the movie was homosexuality. Captain Walter “Painless Pole” Waldoski confesses to Hawkeye that because he couldn’t fully seduce a nurse at the camp that he was, in his words, a “Fairy”. He then decides to commit suicide by “black pill”, actually a sleeping pill. Hawkeye then convinces a nurse to spend the night with him, “curing” him of his supposed problem. I think this treatment is reminiscent of the attitude toward homosexuals in the 1950’s and 1960’s, an attitude that homosexuality could be cured like it was some kind of disease.

Sex also played a major role in M.A.S.H. All of the doctors were getting into bed with the nurses and there even was a remark made by Hawkeye that was along the lines of “Good thing that you are nice to look at because you are a terrible nurse.” The nurses in the camp were kind of idolized because of their sex appeal and were exposed, in every sense of the word, especially Hot lips.

The comedy in this movie is rather crude and awkward because it is so sexually based for the most part. Another aspect of the humor comes from the obvious over exaggeration of life in a military camp. The native bartender Hawkeye enlists and the sheer amount of alcohol is obviously exaggerated. No military encampment, especially a medical encampment would be allowed to have that much alcohol for personal consumption. Also the amount of free time shown is an exaggeration. I don’t think any military doctor only a few miles from the front line would be able to play golf, due to just the sheer amount of casualties.

I found it interesting that football was such a reoccurring theme in the movie. I didn’t think that football had that much influence in the early 1950’s. I thought that football truly didn’t become popular until the advent of the Super Bowl in the 1960’s.

I thought the way the movie ended was kind of lame. It seemed so sudden. I guess it may have been an accurate portrayal of how military life can change so quickly.

M.A.S.H is well worth the watch. It’s a good comedy although kind of raunchy.