M*A*S*H TV Show - Benjamin Hilton - Option D

            Comedy and satire are tools that have been used to make people laugh at the truth for nearly all of recorded history. From the earliest example in ancient China, to the well known jesters of Shakespeare, the art of telling the truth with a well timed punch line has proven invaluable. In the world of film, this is no less true, especially, in terms of war. The subject of war brings about ideas of blood, bombs, dead bodies, and overall bad images. The art of turning was comical, while still delivering a meaningful message is an art. M*A*S*H was a ground breaking TV show that came at the tail end of the Vietnam War. About an army field hospital in the Korean War, it used comedy to be able to deliver powerful messages to their audience.

            M*A*S*H uses comedy and satire in a number of ways that tend to go overlooked by most viewers. An example M*A*S*H used often is the idiocy of the superior officers over the enlisted. In the first three seasons the clear example of this was Colonel Henry Blake, the leader of the M*A*S*H unit. Henry was a blubbering idiot, one who would make a regular person wonder why he was ever made in charge of anything more then a scalpel. The truth, and true use of satire, is when Col. Blake tells Hawkeye, the main protagonist, that he never signed up to be in charge; and that the Army put him here without the proper training. The Army in “all its wisdom and knowledge” placed in charge a man not fit to lead a soap box derby, let alone a M*A*S*H unit.

            The satire of commanders doesn’t merely end there. M*A*S*H uses several other instances to show that the superiors running the war aren’t all together. In an episode called “The Incubator” Hawkeye and Trapper go in search of an incubator to help diagnosis diseases in their patients. Along the way they are denied an incubator, offered an incubator (“at cost”), and in a final attempt they crash a generals news conference to ask why they can’t get one. This episode uses satire to show the overall incompetence of the military system and the people in it. Colonel Lambert, who is attempting to sell the incubator for a profit, tells the two “If I started doing my job, where would I end up?” This tongue and cheek humor is meant to show the overall lack of the American soldiers to want to be there.

            No truer is a sign of an officer not wanting to be in the army then Maxwell Q. Klinger. An enlisted man who dresses like a woman in an attempt to get discharged from the army with a section 8. The outfits that Klinger wears through out the series ranges from a white wedding dress, a cock tail waitress, to Scarlett O’Hara’s dress from Gone with the Wind. Completely absurd and crazy; a ploy that seems to comical to be true. The idea for an officer dressing as a woman to get out of the army was inspired by Lenny Bruce, a mid 20^th century American comedian, who attempted to dodge his military service by dressing as a WAVES member, the female equivalent of the NAVY. M*A*S*H also based many episodes off real life experiences recorded by doctors and nurses from the Korean and Vietnam War.

            Despite all the satire involved where satire isn’t is also something of importance. Never when doctors operating are on screen is there a laugh track present. This was done with the intent of showing that war is not funny. That even though these doctors “have to go crazy to keep from going crazy,” the OR scenes hold true meaning and solemness. M*A*S*H is a complex weave of satire and excellent writing. It is able to portray a powerful message without the audience truly realizing. It is an excellent series that still holds its worth, even today.


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