On my fourth time around watching MASH from start to finish, I began to think introspectively about who I most relate to in the show. What are my strengths, my weaknesses, what are my bad habits and the things that annoy me?
What seems obvious, is all of us want to be either Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, or B.J. Hunnicutt. Some may want to be seen as the beautiful, hardworking, sometimes graceful Margaret Houlihan, but then again, I don’t think most would want to align with the Major’s gruff spontaneity and predilection towards brown nosing and destroying anything fun.
That being said, there are always people out there with a complete adverse idealism to what you’d like to think is the “norm.”
I’d bet most viewers see themselves, or want to see themselves, as having the most in common with our hilarious, down to earth, thoughtful main characters who make us laugh out loud and warm our hearts. In my case, I’d have to agree with my assertation. I’d love to be compared to those great actors who made their characters lovable and imitable. As I write this I do so with a grin and the overwhelming feeling of embarrassment. Although I know I am good hearted, caring, thoughtful, I know for a fact most of my misgivings and hang-ups align more towards those of Major Charles Winchester even if I’d like to be as far away from similar to him that is humanly possible.
While I am not pretentious or selfish, I can be a little recluse. I enjoy my alone time with a book and the occasional classical music, less annoying stylings than Charles’s liking, but classical music that is easy to read to. I may find Hawkeye, B.J., and Trapper charming on TV, but if I, in the middle of a war I didn’t want to participate in, had to live with two loud overly rambunctious roommates, I may go as mad as Charles eventually ends up going.
MASH holds a special place in my heart and makes me feel comfortable. It’s my background show, my before bed show, and my “there’s nothing else on” show. While you may think the constant streaming could get old, the show itself operates much like its own spinoffs throughout its eleven season run.
· Show #1 included all the original cast members aside from some growing cameos by Jamie Farr as Maxwell Klinger. Earlier camera and editing work gave the first three seasons an older feeling even from the same production just seasons later.
· Show #2 saw the exit of Wayne Rogers as Trapper John McIntyre and McLean Stevenson as Colonel Henry Blake. Although Major Burns stuck around as company fink, the 4077 received a new CO that livened up the stories and gave them a new feeling.
· Show #3 finally saw the long-awaited departure of Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns. We are introduced to the outfits new odd man out in David Ogden Stiers’ Charles Emerson Winchester lll
As any good fan does, I’ve ventured out and found those other outlets that inspired or were inspired by my favorite things. I’ve read MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors and I’ve seen the movie predecessor to the show.
There are always some things that slip through the crack though. Just up until now I was unaware of the long list of sequel novels of MASH transplant around the world. But these are not the reasons why I even set off to write this blog. In my experiences, sometimes, things seem to slap me in the face as they come out of the blinds and force themselves into my point of view even if they’ve been floating around for years, decades even.
Clear and Vivid is a podcast hosted by MASH’s own Hawkeye Pierce aka Alan Alda. But the thing is it isn’t. I’ve never confirmed my feelings and thoughts about the subject of actor vs character, but it still surprised me to realize that those who portray a character may use some of themself for the role and not identify with them as their own being. Alan Alda was Hawkeye Pierce on TV, but he is not Benjamin Franklin Pierce in real life.
While Hawkeye is courageous, selfless, and all around funny, Alda is that much better. It took a podcast hosted by the actor himself to make me realize how different, while being oddly the same, an actor can be to their characters. Alda takes all the good from his character and emits that goodness in real life. Turns out he was that way before the roll too…
I’m getting a little to flippant here, but I’m having fun.
Alda interviews and speaks to professionals, artists, scientists, and humanitarians alike. These are enormously interesting conversations that touch on cool topics and spoken about by people who really care and it shows.
Hearing Alda’s guests speak about their life's work inspires me and fills me with interest for topics I’d never heard of otherwise.
Should there always be a call to action in a trash blog? I guess the answer will have to depend on the details, but I think it's a neat addition. After all these may just be me recommending things endlessly.
Go listen to Clear and Vivid.
Peace and love.
- Pat
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