M*A*S*H

The film M*A*S*H follows the history of a staff of an army hospital during the Korean War. The men in the group use humor in order to deal with the atrocities of wartime.

Authority is a central theme in this film. Duke Forrest and Hawkeye Pierce both tend to ignore commands and rules that authority figures give them. They enter the camp on a Jeep that they stole and immediately go into the mess hall. The also ignore the instructions not to go into Colonel Blake’s tent and practically push him around to get what they want. The Colonel even says “I know what you fellas are trying to pull, but you’re not going to push me around”. However, that’s exactly what they did-they ignored the rules. They also defy authority by having the Major’s Asian student come work for them by making them drinks and cleaning their clothes. The men taunt authority and actually quote what officers say to them, but while making fun of the officers. The main voice of authority in the film is the PA system, for it is heard everywhere. The men actually use the PA system to get what they want as well.

This film also criticizes the military. The men who are officers get a lot more medical attention than those who are not. There is also an announcement over the PA saying that everyone must remove pictures from their bunks so that they look orderly. They’re in the middle of a war: who the hell cares what their bunks look like? The officers are also a bit spoiled compared to the regular soldiers: they want olives in their martinis and sugar in their coffee. However, everyone needs to make sacrifices.

The men act rudely towards women. They expect that all women will want to have sex with them, no matter their marital status or their authority in the army. This is a gender role that men put upon the women in the army. The men also don’t care about the privacy that women need- they willingly broadcast Hotlips and Frank Burns having sex. Walt Painless also claims that he wants to be faithful to the three girls that he’s engaged to, but why should he worry about being faithful to three women he’s already lead on rudely? The woman that helps Painless is sort of bullied into having sex with him in order to “save him”. Although, some of the women bring such rudeness upon themselves. Hotlips is a bitch practically all the time, and she insults the men. Of course the men will defend each other.

Obviously, this film contains many sexual innuendos and some really apparent sexual puns, such as when the broadcast of Hotlips and Frank Burns having sex was described as “climactic”. Also, the lieutenant, who Duke describes as a “lovely dish”, is called Lieutenant Dish.

Another central theme is the camaraderie between the men. The men really try to keep each other’s spirits up. They plan a fake suicide “party” for him, which mimics the Last Supper of Jesus. They give him what they think he needs at this moment- a way for him to leave his unhappiness. After his fake suicide, the men plan to help Painless out by getting him with a woman. The men also help each other out by protecting their members from the rudeness of others. For example, Trapper John McIntyre does not like it when one doctor tells a young man that he killed a man because he didn’t bring the cardiac needle. Trapper then punches that doctor, putting himself in a position to get arrested.