David Duneman

Expository Writing

Joe Serio

3/3/13

M*A*S*H

            Mash is a very subtle humorous movie that took a few viewings to get used to. The first time I watched it I turned it off after about twenty minutes but the second time I was actually laughing out loud, I guess I was paying more attention the second time around. It starts off really strong with the theme song “Suicide is Painless”, by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman. This song definitely kept me watching when my attention was straying. The first scene after the opening theme song was of Radar and a General obliviously talking at the same time with a helicopter in front of them. This seemed to be a common theme in the movie; people talk at the same time not listening to the other person. They throw in some good jokes in the moments where there’s chaos in the peoples conversations. For example, when all the surgeons are meeting each other, everyone is saying their name and occupation and the final guy says “John Black, I’ll be passing gas for you”, it’s a subtle joke but not enough just to where you have to notice it. A good proportion of jokes are subtle like this example. Mash doesn’t seem to have very many boundaries in their jokes. For example, Hawkeye calls his black commanding officer racist when he gives him a command, which is a very touchy joke to be telling. I think the situation the characters are in allows for the non-boundary challenged jokes that are portrayed.

A good amount of subtle humor occurs in the surgery room as well. The surgeons are always joking and talking casually to each other while working on a patient that could possible die any minute. Also, when the lights go out in the surgery room, it creates some situational comedy.

Many jokes come from Major Hot Lips character as well. She takes her job a little too seriously so the boys are always pulling pranks on her. The first prank, which gave her the nickname Hot Lips, Radar puts a microphone under the bed when Franks Burns and Hot Lips are having sex and puts in on the intercom. So this makes Hot Lips subject to ridicule whenever someone wants to ridicule her.

Franks Burns was also subject to ridicule as well. He was a representation of “blind-followers” of religious faith. He would never take responsibility when a patient would die, he would either say it was God’s will or blame it on somebody else. My favorite part with Frank Burns was when he attacked Hawkeye and was sent off in a strait-jacket. This is showing that some religious fans are kind of crazy.

Another favorite part of mine was their martini maker. They have an under-age, private martini maker, which is a play on under-age drinking.

I thought it was weird that Mash is a war movie but doesn’t show any war fighting moments. But then I realized that the football game represented a kind of ending battle scene. Good movie, I’d recommend it.  

On Football Games and America

 MASH was one of the more interesting movies I've watched over the course of this class although, it wasn't exactly the best movie I've seen. The biggest problem I had with this movie was the plot, it was practically nonexistent, and the humor felt specific to the era in which it was made. The major themes that I was able to associate with this movie was communication, the lack thereof and the lack of power those in authority actually had. From the opening scene to the end credits, the main characters walk all over every person that outranked them or was outside of their “clique”. This was humorous because it plays with the power structure and highlights how poorly things are communicated between practically everyone. The main characters, in turn, have figured out how to play that in their favor which lets them do practically whatever they want.

Overall, this movie seemed to bring a lighthearted approach to different aspects of the military, giving people a way to vent frustrations they may have had, especially those that have been in the military. The situations and archetypes presented were made to be relatable so people can identify with them. As we've discussed in class, the way this movie portrayed the military and its various facets is a way that we can bring it into the realm of humanity and strip away some of its power.

The theme of communication is prevalent in this film in nearly every scene, when the movie opened and the head of the MASH camp is giving what seems to be orders to the character, Radar, they're just talking over each other and Radar runs off before the commander finishes talking. Another example of communication is with the dentist, when he reads some sort of article that leads him to believe that he's turning into a “fairy”, and he believes it without the slightest hesitation, even when the others know that it's a ridiculous notion to believe wholeheartedly, he still believes it. The announcements that come on over the camp's speakers throughout the movie are also quite misleading, even the speaker steps over his speech, fails to read some announcements and immediately retracts other statements he makes, which again lends to this theme of miscommunication. These different scenes also show how communication can break the chain of command, when people don't really understand what's being told to them, the order falls through the cracks in the floor.

One thing that confused me was the Japanese radio station that played over the speakers in the camp. I was under the impression this movie takes place in Korea, so I'm not really sure what this has to do with anything, other than foreshadow two of the main characters short visit to Japan. The characters trip to Japan was a turning point in the movie that signaled the rapid dissolving of what little plot line this movie actually had. As a symbol, the football game symbolizes the characters complete triumph over the military entity. Other than this symbolism, the football game at the end of the film really didn't seem to serve much purpose besides adding length to the film and a way for the characters to make a quick buck.  

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.  

M*A*S*H

In the film M*A*S*H, there were a few things that struck me about the movie. One of which was that it reminded me of the book “The Things They Carried”.  I was reminded of this because it is as if the main characters are scarred from their experiences and are looking for an outlet anyway that they can.  The beginning sets the stage for this feeling after showing the evacuation helicopters carrying wounded soldiers and showing the wounded at the hospital camps.  This would be a scarring sight for anybody, but it is even more scaring for those that were actually there and cannot just simply look away.  This scarring is what reminded me of the book, as “the things that they carry” are the memories and experiences of the battle.  There is a difference in how the burden of war is handled in film and in the book, but the premise is still very much the same.  That premise is to do whatever it takes to try and remove the images that are imprinted on their memory, and if they cannot remove it, then try to create a stimulus that is large enough to avert their attention away from the gruesome images imprinted on their minds.  In the M*A*S*H, this was done through the way of practical jokes, this is why we laugh at this movie, not because it is inherently funny, but because after making that connection with the characters, it is an outlet for us as viewers, in the same way it is an outlet for the characters.

What I loved most about this movie is that they present humor in a way that is not expected or overly done.  The perfect example of this is the football game.  The football game is presented with the assumption that we know the rules of football, and with this assumption the film makes this scene humorous by having things happen that would never be allowed in a “real” football game.  They rely on “legal cheating” to win.  They also use center eligible plays and the lot in order to outsmart their opponents.  This is a great moment in the movie as it would have been very easy and simple to go for the physical comedy and have some people get ran over, but instead this film gets its comedy from the way the game is played.  This movie glorifies brains over brawn in the aspect of comedy.  What makes this scene so great is that it does not go for the physical humor that is all too easy to obtain, but wants us to use our minds and think about the situation and in there is where the comedy lies.

M*A*S*H

Long gone are the films were the points of view of directors and writers portray the most critical views on a particular issues such as patriotism, the arm forces of the United States, and sexuality. Although nowadays there are films that convey a strong message, they tend to be documentaries, or simply, they fail to enjoy any significant success. In my opinion, the 1970's American black comedy M*A*S*H, directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr, not only had a strong message, but also gained a success that can hardly be compared to any recent films that deal with similar issues. The classic M*A*S*H, generally used medium to close up shots, crude and crowded settings, and mischievous characters to portray in film a more realistic perspective of War. Altman and Lardner, in my opinion, attack the shallow, idealistic and nationalistic view held by Americans of the military personnel in combat zones by using black comedy to approach difficult subjects such as, sexuality, lack of purpose, and the detachment from the appreciation for human life that war and the military can bring upon human identity.
From the first scenes of the film, we can observe bodies covered in blood being flown into a military camp in contrast with very unorganized military personnel whom seemed to not care enough for the wounded. Right after the shot from the bodies in helicopters, we can observe Captain "Hawkeye," played by Donald Sutherland, and Captain "Duke" Forrest, played by Tom Skerritt, walk carelessly into their assigned areas and steal a jeep just with the intention of being rebellious. As the two captains drive off, the group of military men who tries to follow them unsuccessfully start fighting among themselves as a result of their failure. In this shots, we can see the lack of leadership, lack of purpose, and some disregard for human life.
In addition to rebellious and careless behavior of the characters, we can also see that the mid to close shots throughout most of the film intend to take us closer to the blood in the settings of a less than sanitized military medical unit area. During the scenes in the dinning as well as the medical emergency areas , we have similar shots. There is not very much difference in the way Captain "Duke" Forrest grabs the silverware and looks at women and the way he grabs the medical equipment while looking at women as he digs inside of a human body. Booth scenes and shots seem to be very crowded and somewhat uncomfortable to watch because they are cut ins-type of shot- into the emergency area as well as the dinning area. In addition, the camera angles are below eye level, thus contributing to the crowding of the place and giving a stronger sense of disorganization.
Women and gay issues in the military are heavily depicted throughout this 1970's classic. In scenes where women are an important part of a shot, we see boobs, face, and more boobs. Women are portrayed as an object with no power or mental capacity. Female characters become an important part of the plot only when a camera shot captures their physical beauty.
But not only women sexual issues are approached. The way trained doctors such as Captain "Hawkeye" treat the suicidal behavior of the Dentist perhaps conveys the ignorance in the general public and military personnel in regards with homosexuality. Thinking that a homosexual can be turned back into a heterosexual just with the magic of good sex glorifies ignorance as much as the joke about the tent and the music at the end of the funeral scene glorifies good sex.
Finally, although the movie was not very interesting from my perspective, I can see why it generated such a big success at the time of its release. The crude images of the emergency area, mixed with the untamed and reckless sexual behavior of military personnel, and the dark jokes along the film brought to American theaters a reason to have a healthy laugh without forgetting about the crude reality of the Vietnam War. Lack of purpose, disregard for life, sexual ignorance. Not so far from the reality of today.

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

Holly Reese
3-3-13
MASH

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

       As a fan of dark humor, I really enjoyed watching M.A.S.H. From the very beginning with the theme “Suicide is Painless” this film is full of questionable humor. Having seen the television show, I was expecting similar jokes (i.e. a man dressed in women’s clothing). I was pleasantly surprised that this film was a little deeper than the television show and it pushed the boundaries of humor.
       
This film is interesting because it set in a very traumatic environment and the filmmakers don’t hold any of the setting back. When the film opens we are shown wounded soldiers being carted off of helicopters. The soldiers are bloody and beaten up and the scenery is very harsh. The authentication of the mis-en-scene aides the dark humor throughout this film. If the costumes, sets, or setting had been unrealistic the humor would have been very different. The grittiness and dirtiness of the doctors and their home environments went well with their crude personalities. The dark humor of this film often comes from the scenes where the doctors are actually in the operating rooms. In most of these scenes, the doctors are wrist deep in a wounded soldier’s body and yet they are constantly commenting on the nurses. These men are in a serious situation  but not treating it as such. The environment is very harsh and unpleasant and yet the men are severely focused on one main issue: sex.
        
 While this film makes light of many taboo subjects-- like suicide, war, and homosexuality-- one of the main themes that is joked about is sex. It seems that the men only focused on sex from the moment they get to their camp. Trapper John and Hawkeye joke about sex constantly with each other. The harassment of the nurses isn’t overly crude thought, considering the filmmakers could have made much dirtier jokes. Most of the jokes about sex were fairly subtle and not overly vulgar. I think this worked for the film because the sexual jokes could be funny without overwhelming the audience with erotic language. For example, when Hawkeye is in the operating room and says, “It's a good thing you have a nice body, nurse, otherwise they'd get rid of you quick.” This is just a quick one-liner and didn’t have to be explained or exaggerated to be funny. While I think that most of the sexual jokes were not too vulgar or crude, I will acknowledge that some moments during the film were blunt and over-the-top (“Sixty-nine is divine!)
         
 I really enjoyed this movie. It did have moments that slowed it down but I was entertained throughout its entirety. In an interesting way I think I enjoyed it more than the television show, but that might just be because I like Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye. The humor mixed with the goriness of war was done effectively without being too excessive. I would recommend this film to anyone, whether they’ve seen the original television show or not.

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.

M.A.S.H.

This movie is supposed to be a satire of the Vietnam War but takes place in Korea. In case no one looked, M.A.S.H. stands for mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The movie stars Captain Trapper and Captain Hawkeye. They are both medical surgeons that work for the military and perform surgery on the wounded from the war. I thought the song in the opening scene was hilarious. It was called “Suicide is Painless”. Its funny because this movie is about war and people hurting and the song is talking about a type of killing that doesn’t hurt. I'm sure killing hurts no matter what for m it is. The song "Suicide is Paineless" is one of the motifs that occurs in the film. Another motif is Captain Hawkeye's whistle. I'm not sure exactly why he does it but the whistle is his "thing" in the film.

A couple themes in the film that I noticed was names. There is Captain Hawkeye, Captain Trapper John, Hot Lips. There are more but these were the ones that i picked up on. I know that Hawkeye got his name from his dad, Trapper was caught with a lady while having coitus, and Hot lips was also having coitus, but with Frank, and everyone in the camp heard her say that she had "Hot Lips". That was a classic scene. That is something you would do to someone during band camp. The reason everyone picks on her during the film is because 1) she is a "dim whit" and 2) picking on her is keeping everyone sane from losing their mind during the war.

An instance of irony that I saw was when Hawkeye steals the jeep and the MP jeep breaks down right as they begin the chase. This is classic because you can not chase someone in a broken vehicle. And so Hawkeye gets away. The scene immediately after this is funny as well because the Lieutenant asks Hawkeye if he stole the jeep. And Hawkeye responds, " No, its right there". The definition of to steel is asking without permission. So yes, Hawkeye did steal it, but the Lieutenant was completely fine with his explanation.

One last thing that i would like to point out is the last supper scene in the film. Now, I am not a religious freak but I did take art history and this was on of the pieces i had to know for my test so I recognized it. Painless decides that he doesn't want to keep going so he wants to commit suicide. So he has one last good time with his colleges before he goes. In the Painting, this was suppose to be Jesus last meal before he was betrayed by his disciples. In a way I guess painless was betrayed because he wanted to die but Hawkeye found a way to help him out with his lady friend.

Most of the funny things that happen in this film between sex and the relationships between colleges are all to help with the insanity of the war. After talking to a war veteran I am sure that my hypothesis is correct. Not everyone has gone to war and seen all of this. The authors did a good job of making this film into a satire because war is a serious thing and making the situations funny helps ease the idea of war onto the mind of the innocent.

M*A*S*H-ed potatoes

For me, MASH was a major curve ball. I felt as though he entire style of the movie was way different than any of the other films we have seen for this class to date. For one, I did not feel that it was a comedy. Sure, there were a bunch of jokes spread all over the place, but it seemed as though such humor might be present in any situation where there are men. I guess they did take it to the extreme on occasion, like when Hawkeye and Trapper go to Japan for surgery, in complete golf garb. But I do not think I can recall a time where i was actually laughing at anything that happened. Second, I had a very hard time finding any sort of plot in the entire movie. Nothing was consistent, the characters sort of moved and acted upon their own devices, and there seemed to be little to no organization. Because of this, I think the audience has a very hard time focusing on what's happening and, in my case, completely losing interest in the film as a whole.

The entire film was very anti-climactic. The football game was the most exiting event that took place, and that did not support the film's structure or "plot" at all. This is quite odd, because the game itself takes up a lot of the movies screen time. However, I found that the anti-climactic mood of the film was very important on the whole movies theme. That is, war itself is anti-climactic. It is almost never like the movies we see where the group of heroes embark on a mission, fight a final battle, lose a few main characters, and go home legends. No. 99% of the time, soldiers experience exactly what the surgeons in MASH did - get deployed, serve their time, get sent home. No slow motion explosions, no heroic acts of valor. Just the monotony of surgery. I saw this exact same theme in the book, The Things They Carried. In it, a man was drafted to serve in Vietnam, so that's what he does. Sure there are some firefights and exiting parts, but that happens to a front line soldier. Before you know it, O'Brien, the main character, is sent home.

This brings me to the idea that the book and the film were not made exclusively for the public’s enjoyment. I feel as though they were created to bring our perspective of war down to reality. It is not always about honor and heroics. Most of the time, it is monotonous, routine, and absolutely horrible. Hawkeye had to operate on men who were going to die anyways every single day, as did all of the other surgeons. O'Brien often recalls the one and only time he took the life of another human being, and how it haunted him every day of his life. It is very important that we as civilians are constantly reminded of the reality of war. That way, we might understand how truly awful war is. Even while sometimes necessary, it is never an easy thing to experience. And with that, I close.

Comedy M*A*S*H*UP

Okay, so at first I wasn’t sure if I liked the MASH movie or not.  I grew up watching the MASH television show, but I had never in fact seen this movie.  As a result, the change in characters really threw me off guard.  The only character that has the same actor in the television series as well as the movie was Radar.  Once I was able to get past the difference in actors and actresses, I then started paying attention to the humor instead. 

So I am not sure if it counts in a narration at the beginning of the movie, but the theme song that is sung at the opening of the movie starts to set a tone for the movie, which of course is quickly changed from sad seriousness to laughing hysterically.  I don’t know if it counts as a narration because it’s a song, but it is an outside source explaining or setting the scene. 

This movie does a great job at a bunch of different types of humor and an overall well rounded script.  What I mean by well rounded is simply that the film makes jokes about a great number of things and in different ways, it is not just the same slap stick humor for every joke.  Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of slapstick, however, there is also situational humor, ironic humor, gender roles profiling, racial and ethnic references and jokes. 

One of the situational instances and just overall themes I found highly interesting was the movie’s take on sex roles.  This being a time when women had not been previously allowed into the army and are now able to achieve rankings higher than many men, many men found it hard to interact or knowing how to treat these women.  I feel like this movie did an interesting job because it pokes fun at both aspects of sex roles in the army.  It showed that many men tend to treat women as just a piece of scenery or local tail, yet could also reach a high rank in the army.  They also played at the fact that women although were ranking officers still ended up resolving to sex or their feminine charm to get what they want instead of their influence as a ranking official. 

Another thing this movie poked a lot at was simply the comedic methods of the military.  That although they are able to function and get things done in a quality manner, the methods and techniques are often a joke in itself in the way the people in the organization interact with each other. 

All in all whether you have seen the television series or not, I would highly recommend this to anyone in search of a good laugh and to just enjoy watching it as much as I did.