Oh, wow, what a thing. I adore MASH and always have, and I'm kind of going through a renaissance right now? At least I'm finding Hawkeye's whole everything, especially his bipolar disorder (I know he calls it manic depression!) and bisexuality, very comforting. I'm so happy for you that you've had this experience, if you have any thoughts to share I'd love to hear them.
Mostly my thoughts are that it's wonderful to look at, not usually for any stunning shots - though there's a few of those here and there - but for it being shot on film, on sets or outdoors, with actors that are using their whole bodies. The OR scenes where all you can see are their eyes have them using the full range of their voices with subtle cues like how they lean to make sure all the emotions are felt. I quite liked how it gradually moved away from being silly to being more serious and staying funny throughout, and that there were a few moments here and there where I'd notice a tree in the background and think, "That's so California."
I adored how it was clearly shot in Southern California or on soundstages because it wasn't trying to be realistic, but rather, it was aiming to convince me of the reality of the show, and because that was its aim, it worked beautifully. I think I knew I'd be a sucker for Radar because I'm usually a sucker for autistic-leaning men who still hold onto their childhood comfort objects.
I watched it on the Internet Archive without the laugh track, which made Frank Burns abjectly pathetic, terrifying, and an object of pity because without laughs, there was no endorsement of anything he said. That also made some of the early silliness harder to sit through, because it was shown in such a stark manner - there wasn't any way to avoid realizing that making Margaret the butt of a joke was an unkind thing to do. In a lot of ways, the show went from being progressive to behind the times by standing still, and because it's still ahead in a lot of ways, I can live with that. Better for that to happen than society to never surpass old attitudes.
I'd known a lot of the broad strokes of what happened - who'd leave and when, stuff like that - so I tried to look at the smaller moments. I know people who like to think the show is a big time loop, because it takes 11 seasons to cover three years, but I like to think - much like how it's aiming to be convincing over realistic - that it's showing me a lot of people's memories of a chaotic, fractured period in their lives. It also suitably explains why so many of the same faces keep popping up here and there.
I'm also convinced Flagg was an early MK ULTRA subject and he's nearly always dosed to his eyeballs on LSD.
I'm on a MASH discussion Discord server and would be happy to invite you, if you'd like.
Thank you for sharing that! I love your reading of the show as fractured memories of a chaotic time. That makes perfect sense to me. I also love the reading of Radar as autistic. One of my die-hard headcanons about this show is that Radar really is clairvoyant (and the way it's presented, he kind of has to be) and I love that paired with autistic.
I will say no to the discord invite, but thank you very much.
I hold that headcanon about him being genuinely clairvoyant, especially how the show later established ghosts were real, too, so it's not much of a stretch. One of my favorite moments regarding his abilities was in "Bulletin Board" when he goes very still and quiet and everyone realizes what that means, and Trapper looks at him and he nods in affirmation to an unspoken question. I've seen at least one fic posit that it runs in his family, and I'm fond of the idea of it being known to the people of Ottumwa and it's accepted as something that he can do without any judgment or suspicion.
Also, it's likely that - with him being autistic - he rarely showered because he wanted to shower in private, and privacy is the rarest commodity at the 4077.
I remember watching that ending when it aired. It was horrifying and brilliant and cathartic all at once. I've never seen anything like it since. Maybe that's because we had a dozen or more years of those characters before it? I've never really analyzed it, just felt it.
It's definitely a show meant to be felt, in the best ways.
I'm on a MASH discussion Discord server with a lot of other first-time watchers and people just getting into the fandom and would be happy to invite you, if you'd like.
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I adored how it was clearly shot in Southern California or on soundstages because it wasn't trying to be realistic, but rather, it was aiming to convince me of the reality of the show, and because that was its aim, it worked beautifully. I think I knew I'd be a sucker for Radar because I'm usually a sucker for autistic-leaning men who still hold onto their childhood comfort objects.
I watched it on the Internet Archive without the laugh track, which made Frank Burns abjectly pathetic, terrifying, and an object of pity because without laughs, there was no endorsement of anything he said. That also made some of the early silliness harder to sit through, because it was shown in such a stark manner - there wasn't any way to avoid realizing that making Margaret the butt of a joke was an unkind thing to do. In a lot of ways, the show went from being progressive to behind the times by standing still, and because it's still ahead in a lot of ways, I can live with that. Better for that to happen than society to never surpass old attitudes.
I'd known a lot of the broad strokes of what happened - who'd leave and when, stuff like that - so I tried to look at the smaller moments. I know people who like to think the show is a big time loop, because it takes 11 seasons to cover three years, but I like to think - much like how it's aiming to be convincing over realistic - that it's showing me a lot of people's memories of a chaotic, fractured period in their lives. It also suitably explains why so many of the same faces keep popping up here and there.
I'm also convinced Flagg was an early MK ULTRA subject and he's nearly always dosed to his eyeballs on LSD.
I'm on a MASH discussion Discord server and would be happy to invite you, if you'd like.
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I will say no to the discord invite, but thank you very much.
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I hold that headcanon about him being genuinely clairvoyant, especially how the show later established ghosts were real, too, so it's not much of a stretch. One of my favorite moments regarding his abilities was in "Bulletin Board" when he goes very still and quiet and everyone realizes what that means, and Trapper looks at him and he nods in affirmation to an unspoken question. I've seen at least one fic posit that it runs in his family, and I'm fond of the idea of it being known to the people of Ottumwa and it's accepted as something that he can do without any judgment or suspicion.
Also, it's likely that - with him being autistic - he rarely showered because he wanted to shower in private, and privacy is the rarest commodity at the 4077.
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I'm on a MASH discussion Discord server with a lot of other first-time watchers and people just getting into the fandom and would be happy to invite you, if you'd like.
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