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rescue-ram · 4 months

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Elaborating on my previous post in as unborked a way as possible....

In S1-S3, TrapHawk and FrankMarg are often contrasted as dueling couples very explicitly. So I'm going to take my statement "Hawkeye is more effeminate but Trapper is more feminine" and apply it to Frank and Margaret to clarify what I mean.

"Frank is more effeminate than Margaret, but Margaret is more feminine than Frank." Frank is unmanly, in a hypocritical, denying, self-deluding kind of way. He's a poser, and the humor comes from having his pose exposed as fraudulent and inauthentic. Hawkeye is also unmanly, but in a cool way, because he owns it and deliberately shirks what's expected of him "as a man" because he has no intrinsic respect for it. The humor comes from his rebellion and self-confident outrageousness. Margaret is more traditionally masculine in many ways than Frank, something which is played for (sexist) humor in its own right, and to contrast how unmanly Frank is by comparison and heighten his jokes. Trapper's masculinity plays a similar role- while he sometimes plays the sissy to back up Hawkeye, he more frequently acts as a straight man to heighten the contrast and make Hawkeye funnier.

So when I'm talking about feminity, I'm thinking of it not just as "unmanliness", but as "traditional feminine role". Margaret plays that to Frank- she's supporting him, hyping him up, she's his distaff counterpart. A lot of their humor is that old school Punch and Judy "nagging wife and henpecked husband" stuff, for sure, but there's no question that he's the main antagonist and she's backing him up. I think when people say she doesn't become her own character until he leaves, it's because she's so much his other half while they're together. Trapper is also playing a supporting role to Hawkeye- he's also the helpmeet, the supporter, the other half. In some ways I think he actually plays to the ideal of traditional feminity better because he doesn't subvert Hawkeye the way Margaret will do to Frank sometimes. I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I can think of like two times Trapper puts Hawkeye down for a joke, while Hawkeye does put Trapper down semi-frequently. Similarly, Trapper plays a caretaking role semi-frequently but I can only think of two times Hawkeye plays that role for Trapper. If under patriarchy to be a man is to be in charge, to be independent, to be your own person, who's the man in Trapper and Hawkeye's relationship? Not Trapper.

Contrasting Trapper with a few other characters just to further clarify my thinking on this... Klinger also has the Bugs Bunny effeminacy as rebellion humor going on, but he isn't a feminine person- the humor is the incongruity between his masculine bearing and his behavior. Radar plays a support role to Henry as well as to TrapHawk, but he is very much his own wily little person, he isn't "the other half" to anyone in particular, and although he's "unmanly" he's unmanly in the ways boys are, not women. He isn't a feminine person. A lot of Henry's humor comes from playing around with his masculinity, but it's never directly or pervasively subverted or questioned. I think Mulcahy kind of comes closest to "feminine man", but his rather soft and supportive nature is also contrasted with his outbursts of more conventional masculinity, even in S1-S3 when he's a more minor character.

I could point to other things that give Trapper a feminine vibe to me, even though he's not unmanly, things that are kind of female coded in our culture- his quietness, his neatness, his fondness for kids, his morality especially- but my thesis here is Hawkeye's effeminacy is an act of self-assertion, and Trapper's feminity is a role of support.

#difficult to articulate this in a way that doesn't sound like im uncritically endirsing the sexist gender roles that this is based on #but hopefully this makes sense??? kfjshdj #mash

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myveryownfanfiction · 5 months

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18+ MINORS AND THOSE WITHOUT AGE IN BIO DNI

tags: @illiana-mystery, @cassieuncaged, @iobsessoverfictionalmen

warnings: swearing

there were little fake Christmas trees everywhere in camp. Father mulchaey was stringing up popcorn strands anywhere he could. Radar was playing Christmas music over the speakers. Trapper had already gotten his Christmas care package from home. Frank was whining about the midnight mass already and the only person left listening was Margret. Hawkeye had invited me to the swamp to help decorate and go through the care package his father had sent over but I was starting to think of ways to get out of it.

“(Y/N), Hawkeye is looking for you.” Radar said as I paused outside post op. I nodded. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah radar.” I smiled at him. “Just been a long day.” I ran a hand down my face and nodded at him. I made my way to the swamp, hands buried in my pockets. I knocked on the door and Hawkeye opened the door, smiling happily at me.

“hi.” He said softly. He missed me before letting me in. “Package is on trappers bed.” I nodded before taking a seat and rubbing my eyes. Hawkeye went to grab the care package before staring at me. “Everything alright?”

“you’re the second person to ask me that today.” I mumbled as I laid back. Hawkeye took a seat next to me, box forgotten on the floor at our feet. “I’m alright. Just exhausted. And feeling like this year couldn’t be any less christmasy.” I felt Hawkeye rub my leg.

“I know what you mean. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to not seeing snow.” Hawkeye whispered. “And all the decorations don’t do anything to help.” I nodded and Hawkeye laid down next to me, head pressed against mine. “What can I do to make you feel better?” I shrugged and turned to look at him. Hawkeye wrapped his arm around my stomach and pulled me closer as I ran my fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “Just wait for this to pass and make sure I don’t get worse.” I offered. Hawkeye nodded and kissed me.

“I can do that.” He said before pulling me up. “In the meantime let’s see what dad sent.” I nodded and helped him open the package. I was surprised to find items in the package for me as well and my mood lifted slightly. Once the box was discarded, I sat with the small snowglobe in my hands. “I guess he knew we were missing the snow.” Hawkeye commented as he went about making himself a drink.

“I guess he did.” I said with a sad smile. “Hey hawk?” I looked up at him. Hawkeye looked at me expectantly. “You ever wonder what would happen if we don’t make it through the war? Not like we don’t return home but like we don’t…” I sighed and looked back at the snow globe. “Last. I guess.”

“no.” Hawkeye shook his head, sitting next to me again. “Because I know we’re going to make it. Once we get back may be a different story. I’ve heard relationships built on shared trauma don’t always end well but there’s nothing stopping us from giving it a go.” I smiled at him and cupped his cheek.

“Sidney tell you that?” I asked. Hawkeye turned his head to kiss my palm.

“nah. Flagg.” I laughed and pulled him in for a kiss. “We’ll be alright. Just you wait and see.” I nodded and curled up against Hawkeye as he laid down. He gently pried the snow globe from my hands and put it on the table next to his bed. “Well make it to see the snow. I promise you.”

#hawkeye pierce #hawkeye pierce fanfic #hawkeye pierce imagine #hawkeye pierce fanfiction #hawkeye pierce x reader #alan alda #Alan Alda x reader #Alan Alda fanfic #Alan Alda fanfiction #Alan Alda imagine

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majorbaby · 5 months

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some early and candid thoughts on MASH: The Comedy that Changed Television

I thought Gary Burghoff had the most illuminating commentary to offer. he was specific, technical and detailed when recounting how the show was constructed, a style of media commentary that caters to my preferences. he has one comment that really stuck with me as a strong descriptor of the Radar character (paraphrase from memory): they needed a character who was experiencing the concept of war for the first time, for whom you could see the

after Burghoff, I thought Jamie Farr had some interesting things to say re: Margaret - 'she contains multitudes' being one of them, and a recurring theme when everyone was speaking about the character

i have to talk about mike farrell's comment on anti-war vs. anti-military: i've talked about how I feel that the post-reynolds/gelbart years have heavily watered-down messaging re: war before, and i've pointed to several episodes where i feel this is obvious, but mike farrell saying (quite strongly) that he felt the show was anti-war but never anti-military is pretty damning evidence.

i mean, i think this is good characterization for BJ, to take a more, let's call it 'broadly', anti-war stance, rather than be opposed specifically to military, particularly to the US military. it fits with his aspirations to live a quiet, middle-class life, with his insistence that he's always done 'the right thing' and imo, a good motivation for him to butt heads with the more radical Hawkeye, who opposes authority figures in general (per Alan Alda himself in this same special) - which actually goes beyond the military...

so i love it for BJ but i hate it for a show that never framed him as being wrong about that idea specifically. i can't say for sure whether BJ always held Farrell's beliefs of course, or vice versa, but if BJ ever did oppose the military as a system, Farrell doesn't know it. this knowledge makes episodes like Preventative Medicine and Back Pay land even worse with me.

'some of us were IN the military' he added, as a justification for his point that the show could not have been anti-establishment which i would speak on even more candidly if i was going to make this unrebloggable lol. but truly it's not that serious except in terms of how i think about the themes of this show - he seems like a perfectly lovely person who really loved making MASH and i think his fans will enjoy watching him speak about that.

Mclean Stevenson makes a point about how what Radar anticipates about a character tells us something about that character beyond what we would receive if we just heard the character say it themselves (which they usually do, at the same time as Radar) - I need to think about this some more when re-watching those scenes...

dlfkjaljfk I've never heard David Ogden Stiers' natural voice I thought someone was giving commentary over footage of him and then i realized he was actually giving the commentary - I feel like everyone knows this, but he was immensely talented, a master of voice and speech

1 hour and 10 minutes (including ads, or 'commercial breaks' as we used to call them back in my day) spent on seasons 1-3. tbf there's character-specific commentary in the first half that is for characters that were with us for the whole run, but, there's also a lot of time devoted to talking about how the show was initially constructed, the pilot being good (correct), and something that made me smirk - Larry Gelbart's commentary on how people were incensed and outraged at Henry's death and felt they had been misled, lied to, about their funny haha, wholesome weeknight comedy (set in the Korean War???) is almost indistinguishable from how people talk about plots they don't like in media nowadays

it was good! i had fun!

#re: mash #idk about uploading the whole thing because tbh the audio is pretty bad but i'll try to do a few gifs

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specialinterestsgalore · 6 months

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The M*A*S*H Time Loop

This was pretty much just a stream of consciousness writing. I haven't looked at it much since I wrote it a couple of days ago but I wanted to post it anyway.

The sitcom M*A*S*H ran from 1972 to 1983 and captured households around America. The series follows M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit 4077 through the Korean War. Knowledgable readers might have noticed that the Korean War lasted 3 years from June 1950 to July 1953 while the M*A*S*H series ran for 11 years from September 1972 to February 1983. This significant timeline difference created an interesting effect on M*A*S*H that led to many fans discussing the ‘M*A*S*H time loop theory.’ As the name would imply, this fan theory posits that the events of M*A*S*H do not take place during the Korean War as we know it, but instead that the show follows the 4077th as they are stuck in an endless time loop and are unable to escape the war.

Clearly, the timeline of M*A*S*H is a bit difficult to line up with the events of the actual Korean War due to the 8-year difference. Characters such as BJ Hunnicutt and Radar O’Riley were on the sitcom for 8 years but canonically it is difficult to say if they were meant to have spent the same amount of time in Korea. While the episodes were aired weekly, it is impossible to say if most of the episodes were meant to take place a week apart. There are several episodes for which we know this is not the case, for example, the season 9 episode ‘A War for All Seasons’ begins with the 4077th ringing in the new year and follows several key events throughout 1951 and ends on New Year’s Day 1952. This seems to imply that the previous 8 seasons all take place in 1950. It could also imply that subsequent episodes all take place in 1952 or later, though many assume that some episodes show events that were not seen in ‘A War for All Seasons.’ On the opposite end of the spectrum, several episodes take place over a matter of hours. The season 8 episode ‘Life Time’ happens essentially in real time as Hawkeye has only 20 minutes to complete an arterial graft on a wounded soldier. These and other episodes make creating a sensible timeline for the M*A*S*H series an incredibly complicated process. Trapper John leaves in the first episode of season 4, does this mean that he was only in Korea for 6 months? As mentioned earlier, Radar and BJ were on M*A*S*H for the same number of years, but Radar leaves before ‘A War for All Seasons,’ does this mean that Radar was enlisted for a year or less while BJ was present for 2 years? Does it matter how long any of these characters were engaged in the Korean War? The time loop theory certainly says no.

The nature of all sitcom television lends itself very well to the concept of a time loop. The show almost always resets itself at the end of every episode and it begins the next episode in essentially the same place. The order of the episodes often doesn’t matter. Everything is always happening, nothing happens, it doesn’t matter. In M*A*S*H specifically, one of the core themes of the show is the cyclical nature of war. It intentionally pokes fun at the repetition, the monotony with lines like ‘the future’s been canceled by the war department’ and ‘Father, what do you think of purgatory so far?’ as well as with aspects such as the omnipresent PA voice. Hawkeye Pierce becomes the main focus of the show and the audience's lens in many ways and as such is one of the easiest introductions to this concept. Hawkeye complains about being stuck nearly every episode and often phrases it as though he is not just stuck as a surgeon in a war zone, but as if his whole life is stuck, as if his past and future are all contained within the war. Another character giving credence to this theory is Radar O’Riley. Radar earned his nickname due to his uncanny ability to sense incoming wounded before anyone else and to predict what his commanding officers will ask for before they open their mouths. While this is certainly a fun gag for the show, many think it shows that Radar is aware, consciously or unconsciously, of the time loop. Radar is aware of when the choppers will arrive and when Henry needs files because it has all happened before and will happen again. Many fans also point out that this could be the reason for Radar’s reaction to Henry being sent home. It is more than just realizing that he will be left in Korea while the man he has come to see as a father figure goes home to his family. On some level, Radar remembers that Henry will not make it home; he knows he can not stop it. Of course one of the biggest pieces of evidence against the idea of a time loop is the fact that it does end. Everyone goes home in the end, however, this does not entirely disprove the theory. Many pieces of media that focus on the concept of time loops end with our protagonists escaping. But they can not escape entirely. Though all of our characters leave Korea by the end of the series, those who are still alive have not left completely. They will be stuck remembering this time forever.

While the original intention of M*A*S*H certainly was not to tell a story about a group of army doctors, nurses, and enlisted men trapped in a time loop, that is in many ways the story we got. It is the best showcase of the cycle, the monotonous horror of war in modern media. The only changes come with tragedy, death, or abandonment. It is a time loop in the only ways that matter.

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thebreakfastgenie · 8 months

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2 for as many m*a*s*h*ers as you want :p]

2. If they were on tumblr, what would their url be?

I actually did come up with a URL for Hawkeye once, but I was just editing a URL in a screencap to fit him better. A lot of people have tumblr URLs that have nothing to do with their lives, jobs, or interests (hi) but that's really hard to do with fictional characters so here are some ideas.

Hawkeye: currently hes-gomorrah

Clinically insane posting, no one can get over the fact that he's a successful surgeon in real life. Changes his URL, bio, and icon to resemble a pornbot and catfishes Frank like once a month. Frank falls for it literally every time.

Trapper: currently im-gomorrah

Barely posts, mostly made an account to follow Hawkeye and do matching URLs with him. They've changed up the theme a few times. He's the least online and therefore the most free.

Margaret: thats-major-to-you

Posts about military history and women's history, especially where they overlap, and sometimes about nursing.

Frank: proud2be-an-american

Sends Henry and Potter anonymous callouts of Hawkeye, Trapper, Klinger, and BJ literally every day.

Henry: gonefishin

The funniest person on this website, all his posts include unrelated pictures of fish.

Radar: farmnfriends

Cottagecore blog, subject of a minor callout for reblogging posts about veganism but still eating meat.

Mulcahy: christ-our-lord

One of the Catholics but he thinks the eucharist memes are funny and reblogs them often. Changes his URL after an anon points out it could be taken to mean he's saying he is christ, henceforth known a servant-of-christ-our-lord

Klinger: draftdodgerrag

Posts about fashion, draft dodging tips, and Lebanese food and culture. Sometimes he goes on posting sprees about Toledo and has doxxed himself more than once this way. Gets anons like "how dare you give draft dodging advice when you're not even successful at it."

BJ: yellowmotorcycle

Everyone thought he was a lesbian who was just really into dad jokes and were shocked when he posted a picture of Erin that he was actually a dad. His blog title is "even rode my motorcycle in the rain."

Potter: zanegray

Posts about horses, sometimes posts his art. The subject of a callout post because he's in the army.

Charles: beaconhillmd

Treats his tumblr like an actual blog, every post sounds like a press release. Until he starts drunk posting.

#mashposting

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hawkeyeslaughter · 2 months

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Someone mentioned in a post I saw that BJ’s love language is probably Acts of Service. It mentions the way that he’ll show how much he cares about Hawkeye by doing things for him, including the last episode in which he writes “GOODBYE” in giant letters with rocks instead of just saying it 🤦🏻😂

So I’m curious: what do you think the other characters’ love languages are? :)

WAIT THATS SO CUTE 😭😭 i love that so much . and thank you for the ask !!!!

— i think hawkeye’s is definitely physical touch . it’s pretty obvious when you watch him the more he likes someone the more touchy he is with them … leaning into trapper when he laughs , arm consistently around radar whenever he talks to him , hugging and leaning into bj , letting the others sleep on him , holding margaret when she’s upset , a hand on henry’s shoulder … i could go on and on . “ oh but he’s always touchy with everyone “ because he loves everyone ??? next question

— i think trapper is less of an acts of service guy ( i think a lot of the stuff he does is just because it’s funny ) and more of a quality time guy . i mean of course it goes without saying that he’s always hanging around hawkeye because he loves hawkeye , but i think we see it reflected a ton too with this patients ; there’s several instances where we see him hanging around their bedsides in hopes they’ll get better . and there’s several instance where we see him just hanging out with henry or hawkeye or even frank doing nothing . but doing it just because he loves them and wants to be around them and i really think that’s sweet lol

— it’s so a hard to tell with frank because obviously we don’t see him do any loving acts a ton , but if i had to assign one to him i’d say gift giving . frank is so stingy that even getting him to give something to someone of any value ( whether it be a necklace or a signature on a form ) is monumental . and when he does i feel like it must be because he loves them . deep down . just a hair

— henry is words of affirmation without a doubt in my mind . like we see him struggle with using his words to express how he feels ( like in ‘ henry , please come home ‘ where he stutters before telling hawkeye and trapper that they’re swell , and giving radar a pat on the head ) , but he really shows how much words mean to him in episodes like ‘ ceasefire ‘ and ‘ abyssinia , henry ‘ . i also think in episodes like ‘ sometimes you hear the bullet ‘ or ‘ the trial of henry blake ‘ or ‘ sticky wicket ‘ when he offers encouraging words or is straightforward about how he feels , he means them . and he’s saying them to express that he cares , and i think that’s big for him . so yeah , words of affirmation for henry .

— margaret is quality time , even from the early seasons when she took so much consideration on setting up her little dates with frank . she just likes spending time with people , with the patients , with her nurses , with potter , with the swamp rats . she finds time , even with how busy she gets with being head nurse , to take little moments with people she cares about . i think its more subtle , but i think it’s very important to her character to notice .

— radar is acts of service . i mean , yeah , a lot of the stuff he does is because he has to do it , but a lot of the stuff he does he doesn’t have to do , either . my always goes to ‘ showtime ‘ when he found the mother with the baby and went to henry with her when he missed the birth of his own kid . i love thag radar is always helping out in his own little ways when even hawkeye may be unaware . he’s just always going out of his way to help , and i love him for that . i love him for that .

— charles is words of affirmation to me too . i think opening up and being honest is a big big thing for charles , and i think since he didn’t really have anyone growing up to offer him those words it adds to the fact that he uses them as something he didn’t really ever have . its a big deal for him ,, it makes the scenes with his stuttering patient and the piano player more special . because he means it . because its coming from his heart .

— i’d like to think klinger is gift giving , as he’s doing manicures or sometimes giving things to the nurses or giving his little bits of fashion advice . i think its not always the physical things he’s giving away , but also little pieces of his heart through his kind acts .

— father mulcahy is acts of service , not only because he ( more or less ) has to because of his profession , but because he genuinely likes going out of his way to help people , i think . he worries that his profession doesn’t help people in the way the doctors do , because it’s not as obviously outwardly making a difference , and i think he struggles with that because his way of loving and helping isn’t ‘ enough ‘ sometimes . but i genuinely think it’s less about him being a priest and more because he has this innate love for humanity and he wants to help them .

— finally , i think potter is quality time and my strongest argument for thjs is the time he takes painting portraits of the 4077th members or his participation in the parties , despite the fact he doesn’t seem as though he’d be a party fella . i think both of those are just excuses because he can’t bring himself to admit he just likes spending time with his little found family

#townes answers asks !#whew went through EVERYONE #mash #m*a*s*h #mashposting #mash 4077 #mashblr #lgbt #lgbtq

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the5n00k · 2 months

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Hawkeye Pierce: The Good, The Bad, and The Unmilitary

The long awaited first official M*A*S*H character analysis

It's not a secret to anyone aware of this blog that I fucking love Hawkeye. This piece of shit lives rent free in my mind and has lived rent free for the past four months. Which is kind of why I've hesitated so long to make this because he means so much to me (also what's left for me to say about him, he's been around longer than I have, surely he's been analyzed and over analyzed more than I can imagine)

But I relate to him unfortunately so you're going to have to hear about him sorry <3

Her ass is rambling, this is a long post

Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce starts out the series loud and eccentric but relatively level headed most of the time compared to some of the other members of the 4077. Playboy, drinker, anarchist, and pacifist (by technicality only), his really formative episodes for his character going forward to me at least were Dr. Pierce and Mr Hyde and Sometimes You Hear The Bullet. Both his wish to do something, anything to stop the war and his declining mental health because of it are on full display in these episodes. The war took so much from him and keeps taking, especially when Henry dies and Trapper gets shipped home while he's away. He's a desperate animal clawing at the dirt just trying not to fall off the cliff. And he keeps slipping.

One of his biggest weaknesses as a bleeding heart is burning himself out or having zero self preservation. It's admirable how much he does for his patients and camp mates but most of the time it just looks like he has a death wish. But the admiration is exactly what he doesn't want. He's an attention whore sure, but every time he's ever been put on a pedestal he's tried to shake it off; dismissing the news reporters and even yelling at Radar for simply looking up to him. He covers up his self loathing with humor, childish antics, and self inflating bickering with the other surgeons to give him a fake sense of self worth despite thinking of himself so poorly. Just the way he treats himself with ridiculous drinking habits and poor self care in general is rather telling and only gets worse as the series goes on.

That being said, he is also strongly fixated on having a sense of normalcy, demanding more choices of food and taking showers whenever possible just like all the others scrambling to keep some sort of routine. He also frequently sets up dates with the nurses when he can not looking for anything serious. He falls in love/forms attachments really easily so that often gets him in trouble, especially when his coping mechanisms keep him from being real most of the time. And once he loves you, he holds on, still mourning the loss of Trapper throughout the later seasons as if he was dead. Moving on is not an option for him, often retreating back into memories voluntarily or not to cope with being drafted (Hawk's Nightmare, Bless You, Hawkeye, basically any episode where he talks extensively about Maine or his father)

And no matter what happens, no matter how much he hates it, Hawkeye knows he has to keep going or people will get hurt or worse. He knows he has to get up and keep doing his job because he has to. He doesn't like it. He'd rather literally be considered dead than get continuously screwed over by the army (The Late Captain Pierce) but he gets up anyway. Because people depend on him. There have been a few episodes where I believed his mental health may have been improving, after/around season 9, and then Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen happened and I was immediately destroyed.

His arc in GFA, like a lot of the other characters in that finale special, was perfect for his character. He was always claiming things like “sanity is a state of mind” (and talking about chickens a lot for some reason) so to have him finally, horrifically snap and lose it so badly Sidney found it necessary to keep him in a mental hospital felt like the trainwreck I had been anticipating for the entire series. He needed to stop repressing things and actually process the horrors he's seen, all of it stacking up is the reason he broke to begin with. Everyone else has more or less accepted their shitty situation of stitching together victims of the cruelty of warfare but he'd been fighting it for 11 seasons now (something around 4-5 years show time) and eventually the longer the unstoppable force pushes against the immovable object, one of them will break. Then to see him finally confront the fact that him and BJ will probably never see each other again and practically beg for the closure that Trapper never was able to give him and FINALLY get it was so satisfying and a perfect shot to send off the character with. BJ was the only one keeping him focused and on the right track when he'd start going too far, gave him some much needed reality checks, and was the only one to stick with him through everything. He knew every ugly secret and Hawkeye knew his. They both did terrible things in situations they never asked to be in. They were bonded in trauma and whether you read their relationship as romantic or not, they're probably the closest relationship in the series and I couldn't be happier with how they ended off.

Hawkeye is a deeply flawed character (dare I say… problematic) and while his change isn't immediately noticeable in the series, it is striking if you watch an episode from an early episode to a late one, especially regarding his relationship with Margaret. Across many episodes, they mutually earn each other's respect and actually become very good friends, probably second only to BJ and Hawkeye. They've also been through a lot of shit together and are very similar, reacting to the same insecurities and desires in completely different ways. (Affection craving, their disdain for senseless violence, deep seething rage for injustice, refusing to show weakness due to their high positions)

There's some indefensible things this character does I will admit and things that made me say “why would he say that” but in general, I believe he is a very well written example of PTSD and a strong-willed anti-war activist. The term activist is thrown around a lot online but he's pretty much the only one there trying to fix things, even if his efforts are unethical or straight up ineffective. I actually really love that he does some things that I hate. Seeing such a gritty and reactionary protagonist was so striking to me, his unpredictability made watching him react to things fascinating. He's a cornered animal desperately trying to escape being closed in on closer and closer until he lashes out. My job is nowhere near comparable to the mental turmoil of his but I found myself comparing his thought processes a lot to my own. He's self destructive, impulsive, and immature but his energy brings so much to the show and the characters around him. He has such a fondness for everyone in the 4077 that becomes more explicit in the big moments. He'd raise hell for anyone in that compound whether they asked for it or not. Or if they even needed it. He'd just raise hell. It's enrichment for him

#mash #mash 4077 #hawkeye pierce #character analysis #i didnt proof read this #i hope it's good #i was just rambling #because im in love with him #wait who said that #anyway happy autism awareness month everybody #go watch mash pretty please it's good

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mylittleredgirl · 2 months

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previously on mylittleredgirl: [four seasons of m*a*s*h] [six weeks of screaming about margaret houlihan]

i have now finished season five disc one and a bullet point recap is due! [yeah there's more screaming in it]

bug out was a fucking DELIGHT

god i was so worried though when klinger had to trade all his dresses i was wailing internally. what if he just wears fatigues forever!?!??? but it's all okay!!!! that tassel mod dress he has on in "the abduction of margaret houlihan" healed me ten times over. his outfits have been 🔥 this season.

such a mix of really dumb slapstick comedy and "oh god the war is Right Here" drama and little character sweetness... love it.

and the family reunion happiness at the end!!!! god bless. i left my body for like thirty-six hours.

i really really love the tone they're striking with frank this season. they've walked back the cartoon villainy of late season four, so he's once again a relatively harmless clown. i breathed a huge sigh of relief. he's soooo much more fun this way.

margaret's engagement: bonkers. delightful. she's unbearable. there is so much wrong with her. i want to study her in a jar. i will never shut up again.

with this put together with some bits later in the disc (including that cut scene crayon joke lmao), did she somehow manage to trade DOWN from frank? is that even possible??? it's either that or this new dude is actually just The Exact Same Guy, but now she'll be the fool wife at home instead of the beloved mistress.

i mean personally if i were louise burns i'd be very happy for my dumbass husband to fuck around on the other side of the world for as long as possible while i enjoy the $35,000 house and two cars without him, but for someone like margaret who is far more interested in being wined and dined than running a household, this... may not be the field promotion she thinks it is.

hawkeye rising to frank's defense and him and b.j. enabling frank's little takedown of margaret at the end felt very real. sure, in the grand scheme of things, margaret is Annoying and frank tried to have hawkeye executed last season, but bros before hos.

okay how FUNNY would it be though if the "little redheaded nurse" frank planned to seduce was baker-from-the-nurses, because she would have scratched frank's eyes out for trying and not felt bad about it

and actually, that's a plausible backstory for the extra bad blood between her and margaret, too??? oh yeah. that definitely happened.

i actively missed frank/margaret as the disc went along though. maybe the show had stretched the tension of that relationship as tight as it could go, and it's nice that they get to do new things... but they're so funny and awful together and i miss them sharing scenes!!!

i really assumed - like frank did lol - that they would continue to rabbit around together, only now she would also get to string him along with the jealousy game, but...... well, i'm glad it's still hanging out in the background of the narrative, anyway. i live in hope that they will slip and fuck and it will be soooo messy.

FUCK is it possible i shipped that for real???? god. i don't know if my family name can bear this dishonor.

out of sight, out of mind...

...has taught us the very important lesson that hawkeye is 9000x more annoying without something to do (annoying to everyone else i mean!! not to me. i will happily watch him annoy everyone.)

him asking b.j. to visit him a million times a day 🥺

i'm almost satisfied now by the "doctor-experiences-the-role-of-patient" theme that i didn't get in "hawkeye." i suppose hurt/comfort fic can take it from here.

however i'm totally satisfied by how sweet it was to see everyone taking care of him!! and how much they love him!!

lt. radar o'reilly... devastating. i mean funny and delightful but it's mean!! so glad that boy is back in stripes. however they could have at least promoted him a little for his trouble. sergeant o'reilly???

i have already said more about the nurses (post here) than ever needed to be said. and yet. i'm quite sure i could say more if pressed

the abduction of margaret houlihan

........ will i never be free of colonel flagg episodes ��

i love the continuing evidence that she has invested time in learning korean, and i really really really love the slow expansion of our perspective to include like oh yeah. there's a village where people live full time and it's literally right here.

imagine if after the war she becomes an ob nurse...

on the one hand, how do they not make frank do gun handling training. on the other hand they probably don't because it always ends with stitches and an accident report.

i sometimes wonder if mash was like jury duty for asian actors in the 70s. you probably won't get to say anything but they call you up and you just have to go.

dear sigmund!!!!!! this is another episode where people were staring at me through the window so i'll comment a little more:

the fandom's favorite guy sidney freedman deserves that crown. what a weirdo. talk about a busman's holiday for a psychiatrist to come to the 4077 for a vacation and psychoanalyze everyone. but for fun!

i really don't have a proper sense of the geography at play here because he really does like. just come by to play cards once a week. and drives through a war zone i guess to do it? he has probably sacked out in the swamp before when the air raid situation changes but this time he just... doesn't leave.

and aaaa!! margaret took her very special episode about How To Make Friends to heart!!!! she joined the poker game!!!

she had plenty of time to work on that lesson though because the jeremy bearimy time shenanigans are in full swing here at the 4077. we went from midsummer in 'the nurses' to a bitter cold march two episodes later.

i always kind of assumed the mash weather was loosely inspired by real human weather, but no, in fact the actors just have to randomly suffer in parkas or getting sprayed in the face to look sweaty in alternating weeks regardless of the surrounding conditions.

SUFFERING for their ART

also jfc b.j.!!!! dunking frank in cold water in freezing temperatures is a serious health and safety concern my dude!!!!

i'm afraid b.j. is still not beating the little brother allegations, he has just aged up from innocent baby to fucking gremlin

(i should confess that my little brother diagnosis is guided by the fact that in my complex family and housing history i only ever lived with "brothers" younger than me, and never older ones. but the innocent baby and prank gremlin stages are real.)

i made a note here of "margaret randomly drinking gin in the swamp now!!?!??" like the poker game was one thing, people could strong-arm her into that while she feigns protest, but ma'am WHO are you and what have you done with— and then the next note is "oh good she's still insane"

potter named his horse sophie <3 also he's collecting granddaughters, i think the count is up to 3 now. or baby sherry is experiencing a temporal anomaly of her own!

the letter radar wrote to the dead guy's parents and potter reading it... fucking ended me. please let harry morgan do serious bits more often, it's outstanding and far too rare.

it's not surprising that frank's wife changing (wearing pants! doing activities!) would stress him out, and not just because he's a dick. any of them would struggle with their families growing without them, because that means they can Never Go Home to the life they left!! (e.g. trapper losing it because his girls were getting older.) but it is kind of fascinating that he loves both his wife and margaret, and even said mid-fever that he wanted them to be friends, but he also wants them to be NOTHING alike.

all in all it's understandable that sidney would check in to the no boundaries motel to have his poker buddies shake it out of him, but he could also have taken his leave somewhere with indoor heat. so he's as crazy as the rest of them. <3

also they're not his patients he's just observing them like zoo animals so forget confidentiality he's absolutely gonna write a book about them someday.

mulcahy's war: i don't know why i have been misspelling his name with an 'e' the whole time because it was literally in the end credits of almost every episode for four seasons.

oh god he's so precious i don't talk about it enough. playing poker for orphans. feeling like he doesn't do enough while potter thinks he has the hardest job. that unrelenting positive regard for everyone. always with that little grin.

that little grin in FULL PLAY as he sneaks out of the house to go off to war when dad's not looking

radar should never be sent on a mission where people are bleeding when will they LEARN

corporal cupcake deserves every medal he gets!!!!

frank's foot fetish becoming his one true medical specialty is just. i don't know what to do with this. good for him??? do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life???

speaking of unrelenting positive regard, margaret's policy of nurses never talking back to the doctors in the operating room sure has taken a hit. i realize this is about frank being an intolerable ex, but i choose to believe that the detente between margaret and her nurses has turned the O.R. into a pvp zone. the next time hawkeye tries to seduce a nurse over an open body, he's gonna get wrecked and margaret's just going to shrug pretty and look the other way.

in conclusion: season five is soooo gooooooood!!!!! can't wait for disc two!

#mashblogging #it's about time i watched mash #if you read all this you get a medal 🏅

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fireinthefireproofvault · 2 months

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Who Would Each M*A*S*H Character Play in DnD?

Got inspired by my mutual @spacemanxpaninis & after much discussion here’s our M*A*S*H version of her HH post 😌

Hawkeye chooses a Tiefling character and plays the ‘what, just because I look like this?’ card anytime he gets blamed for things. Makes a bard partially so Trapper doesn’t have to and partially because he’s against unnecessary killing. In fact, he loves the roleplaying so much and is only in favor of killing really bad NPCs, so he gets mad if people (Frank) try to play the mission-driven murder hobo. Even mischief like personal sidequests to seduce NPCs often end up benefiting the party with information or rewards, so they can’t be too mad at him, especially when he plays amazing support as a mostly nonviolent character.

Trapper leaves the campaign early, but man was he good at roleplaying. The DM has to stop him from actually reenacting things in real life especially if they’re indecent. Almost refuses to call Hawkeye’s character by his name, just ‘handsome devil’ variations (Klink wants what they have fr). His character was an elf rogue; he was almost a bard but he wanted to be able to do more than support, i.e. become the main character if he wanted. His character was great with female and kid NPCs alike, almost all of them liking him unless they were stern authority types, especially because he was good at finding legitimate ways around them,

Ignoring the pressure to fill Trapper’s shoes, BJ plays the character he wants to play, an air genasi former sailor named Blow Jibhandler. He knows. Of course he knows. Despite his character’s name and background, Blow has a wife and child back home and his main motivation is defending his wife’s honor. Raves a lot about how his daughter inherited his powers and is already creating storms at such a young age. Is immediately thick as thieves with Hawkeye’s bard, claiming he remembers him from some old tavern by the sea and helping him write songs and vicious mockery insults.

Margaret decides she wants to let loose, so she goes with barbarian, but she doesn’t feel that’s any reason to sacrifice beauty or brains, making the character a very well-read elf whose ways got her kicked out of being a footsoldier and has her hating being a cog in some old man’s machine. Uses her character’s frustration at the idiots surrounding her and that same feeling from real life as motivation for her battle rage. That and sexism, too. Anytime an NPC is sexist to her they only make her more powerful. Pushes Frank out of the way to just become the tank herself if he won’t do it.

Frank also leaves early. Doesn’t like how infrequently his character gets the spotlight or gets teased by Hawkeye’s character. Wants to be a traditional hero, so he goes for a human paladin but never takes the chance to be the tank unless the others make him. Makes the generic white guy warrior with dead wife backstory.

Charles goes for a wizard upon learning they’re the most traditionally educated, flaunting fake wizard school credentials any chance he can get, especially if he thinks it’ll get him in places (it doesn’t always). The phrase ‘otherworldly grace’ is all it takes for him to choose an elf even though the others complain they’ve got elves already. For a guy who acted like roleplay was beneath him, he’s gotten so interested in not only his fake credentials but also being able to step in with the perfect spell at any given time. Also bantering in character with Hawkeye and BJ’s characters.

Radar wants a familiar so bad, choosing druid for a chance at having animal friends. They’re versatile, too. As far as race goes he’s content “just being a regular human” especially when Hawkeye and BJ tease him about playing a halfling. His character in particular somehow passes every single perception and investigation check. He doesn’t like fighting so most of his moves in combat are holding enemies down, healing the others, or just letting his familiar do it as long as it’ll be safe. It’s technically not canon but they let him make it be a bunny rabbit.

Klinger decides his bard cross-dresses too as a form of protest for how his people are treated, having chosen a goblin so he can be shrewd and do the voice. He loves doing voices best and will absolutely demonstrate dance moves his character does. The type of bard that seduces NPCs of any gender to kill them, but not without the satisfaction of revealing to male ones that he was a dude the whole time. His little goblin is really loving and loyal to all the other characters and really isn’t afraid to stick out his neck for them.

Father Mulcahy obviously chooses cleric, commenting on both the obvious choice and the irony of being a healer amidst all the doctors and nurses. An Aasimar seems too on-the-nose and he wants his character to be down-to earth, so he sticks with a human who’s trying, and usually failing, to reign everyone else in. Plays a very combat-heavy cleric that absolutely bashes in the faces of evildoers who don’t heed his message, causing some of the other players to tease the Father that ‘thou shalt not kill’ and all. The good cleric is an uncle, so he’s also great with child NPCs, even if he’s awkward around women.

Nurse Kellye has a sense of humor, so her ranger is a halfling from a far-off island who’s an expert with both her twin swords and a bow and arrows. Loves both rushing in and quickly picking off enemies, so a joke about ‘sic-ing Kellye on ‘em’ emerges. Just like Margaret’s character, she doesn’t take any bullshit from NPCs, especially male ones.

Colonel Potter, of course, is the DM and he spends most of his time done with all the players’ utter horse hockey.

#m*a*s*h #mash #dungeons and dragons #dnd #hawkeye pierce #trapper john mcintyre #bj hunnicutt #margaret houlihan #frank burns #charles emerson winchester iii #radar o'reilly #max klinger #father mulcahy #francis mulcahy #nurse kellye #colonel potter

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charlesemersonwinchesteriii · 2 years

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The way the MASH fandom tends to imagine the ages of the characters is fascinating to me. I keep seeing people referring to various main characters (except Potter and Radar) as “middle-aged”. While to my knowledge we do not have an exact age for any of the characters, I don’t think this assumption can be correct.

While references to character ages within the show are all over the place, in keeping with typically nonsensical MASH continuity, we do have concrete information from the cast on this. Alan Alda stated that Hawkeye is in his late 20s. This would make sense both for him and for BJ, Trapper, and all other assorted surgeons, given where they are in their professional and personal lives. The one exception to this would be Charles, who David Ogden Stiers mentioned was intended to be in his mid-30s, which would in turn make sense for Charles specifically, as he is clearly farther along in a surgeon’s career path than the others, he is the only doctor who has multiple specialties (thoracic and pediatric), and personality-wise he generally acts older than the other Swamp Rats. Real life statistics back this up, as well! The age range of the draft at this time was 18 & 1/2 to 35. (Also, notably, those who served in WWII were exempted from taking part in the Korean War draft, which would be evidence that none of the men in the show besides Potter served in WWII, for what that’s worth.) And that range was heavily weighted toward the lower end. When the show makes a big deal about how young the soldiers they treat are, it’s being absolutely realistic: the average age of a Korean War soldier in 1950 was 19!

The character who most inspired this post, however, I don’t think anyone ever mentioned an age for at any point: Klinger. Almost without exception, I see people talk about Klinger with the assumption that he is the same age as the doctor characters. This has always confused me, because I see no reason that should be true! It makes sense that the doctors would skew quite above the average draftee age of 19 because of the age constraints of their profession, but there is absolutely no reason to assume that same skewing would apply to Klinger, a random enlisted person.

In fact, there are several pieces of evidence in support of the idea of him being younger, perhaps 19-23. While he does call Radar “kid” a few times, implying he is older than him, they are also very close friends and Radar clearly does not treat him with the same “little sibling” attitude that he does Hawkeye & co. (Plus, Radar and Klinger are given equivalent places in the narrative constantly. In just about every other aspect, we are clearly meant to see them as having “equal status”, so why not in regards to age?)

There’s also the whole Laverne thing. The mere fact of his getting married makes him seem older to a modern audience, but we must remember that back in 1950, people tended to marry earlier than today. (Average age of marriage in 1950 was 20 for women, 23 for men.) Klinger says Laverne was his highschool sweetheart, and it’s implied that they’ve been together steadily since then. We know he very much WANTS to get married and have a family. Given the aforementioned cultural norms, if he’s even in his late 20s, it would be weird that he’s not already married before the show starts.

Additionally, there’s his apparent position career-wise, which is: he does not have a career yet! He mentions a lot of summer jobs doing various different things, usually helping a family member’s business, which would make total sense for a college-age kid with no socioeconomic opportunity to actually go to college. Given how hardworking and eager to learn Klinger is (remember his multiple correspondence courses--another age-appropriate similarity with Radar), if he were middle-aged, he would surely already have a good blue-collar union profession. (Again, cultural norms: they had not yet invented the horror of the gig economy in the 50s lol.)

This post is getting way too long, but I do feel quite passionate about this subject, especially with regards to Klinger. The fact that Radar’s age is such a huge part of his character, but Klinger is implicitly treated by the show, and thus seen by the fandom, as much older even though there’s no REASON for that..... It makes me think. Especially given the way youth of color are treated in both reality and fiction. Especially given how despicably the other characters treat him in late seasons, making fun of him for being incompetent and stupid. I know it’s really not that deep! But it just makes me think.

(On a lighter note, I also think it’s useful to keep in mind the canonical age difference between a 32-34 year old Charles and his 26-29 year old roommates. And his age means he NEARLY aged out of draft eligibility, too!)

(”Where does Margaret come into this?” you ask. I’m honestly not sure! I don’t recall any canonical statement of her age either, in-universe or out. It’s important to note, though, that the average age of nurses was definitely higher than that of the male draftees. I couldn’t find data for Korea specifically, but during WWII, the age requirements for the army nurse corps were 21-40, later 21-45. Again, these are medical professionals, so this increased age makes sense. (And the show actually gives us some older nurse characters!) It makes sense for Margaret to be on the higher end of this spectrum, given her high rank and status, but not super high, given that she’s highly skilled and extremely ambitious.)

But beyond individual characters, I wish the age thing were more concrete and acknowledged, just for the sake of the whole tone of the show! I really wish they’d gone out of their way to portray the truth: that aside from the medical professionals, the average age of the enlisted men at the 4077th should be nineteen years old. That all of their patients really are just babies to these doctors (and to the older nurses as well!). It would really help drive home some of the points the series tried so hard to make.

#MASH #MASH meta #Maxwell Q Klinger #Charles Emerson Winchester III #I suppose I needn't tag hashtag long post anymore? We're so advanced these days.#Anyways if I got anything wrong here I'll be soooooo embarrassed but I've wanted to make this post for literally over a year lol so #TL;DR Hawkbeej are literally not middle aged despite the text posts everyone tags them in ghdgksjsdhgkdsk #I think people really get thrown off by the actors' ages! which I totally get but it's so much more interesting and useful to me #to calculate the ages based on this type of circumstantial evidence. I think it can help inform characterization!#also sometimes the cast literally did just tell us how old they are so yeah :P that's not common info at all though so I wanted #to get it out there and talk about it and YEAH. I hope someone reads this now even though it is soooo long RIP QwQ #Starky's Original Posts #IF YOU READ ALL THIS THANK YOU MWAH

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aahsokaatano · 28 days

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A Brief Examination of Margaret Houlihan and Gender

(aka I'm doing my rough draft of my essay on tumblr bc I can ramble here)

I spent 6 weeks watching all 251 episodes of M*A*S*H with the aim of critically analyzing Margaret Houlihan, and more specifically how she is referred to throughout the series. I was initially doing this with the idea of tracking the change from "Hot Lips" to Margaret, but I got more than I bargained for - I really forgot how often she's referred to as a man or in a gender neutral way, and it's super interesting, so under the cut is a list of quotes and some light analysis.

Season 1

"Oh, sorry baby." / "Major to you!" ("The Pilot" s1e1) Neutral

"You're dismissed!" / "Thanks, Mother." ("The Pilot" s1e1) Feminine

"One lady in our outfit..." ("Dear Dad" s1e12) Feminine

Season 2

"You are no gentleman!" / "Good thing you are." ("Divided We Stand" s2e1) Masculine

[Margaret speaking on behalf of Frank] "That's pretty strong stuff, Frank." / "It's true!" ("L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel)" s2e7) Masculine

"You've emasculated me for the last time!" ("Carry On Hawkeye" s2 e11) Masculine

"Margaret Houlihan; nurse, friend, and all around good egg." ("Carry On Hawkeye" s2e11) Neutral

[Radar calls Margaret "sir" - this is something that he ends up doing for several more seasons] "Men are sirs, women are ma'ams!" ("Hot Lips and Empty Arms" s2e14) Feminine (with Masculine connotations long-term)

Season 3

"You know, for once I agree with him?" / "I [Margaret] said that." / "I know." ("Rainbow Bridge" s3e2) Masculine

"Speaking man-to-man, Colonel," ("There is Nothing Like a Nurse" s3e10) Masculine

"He's a creep." / "She's a creepette." ("The Consultant" s3e17) Feminine

"I know you didn't volunteer because you're a married man [...] Well, I'm a married man, too, Frank. Married to the Army." ("Aid Station" s3e19) Masculine

"I'm not just Major Margaret Houlihan, army nurse. I'm also Margaret Houlihan - frail, vulnerable, sensitive female." ("Aid Station" s3e19) Feminine

"Don't think of me as a woman!" ("Aid Station" s3e19) Neutral/Masculine

Season 4

"When I was five, I had a crying fit because they wouldn't let me have a crew cut." ("Deluge" 4.23) Neutral/Masculine

Season 5

"He [Donald] calls me his little plebe." ("Margaret's Engagement" s5e2) Neutral

"I'm an engaged person!" ("Margaret's Engagement" s5e2) Neutral

[Speaking to a newborn baby] "Major Houlihan is here to help you." ("The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" s5e6) Neutral

"Anybody can open with a pair of 10s if they're wearing civilian boxer shorts." / [...] / "I'll open for 25 cents." ("Dear Sigmund" s5e7) Neutral/Masculine

"Margaret, when you're sick, can't you call me Frank?" / "You know I'm an engaged person." ("The Colonel's Horse" s5e11) Neutral

"Margaret, I'm as taut as a watch spring." / "Your state of tautness s no longer a concern of mine, Major Burns. I happen to be an engaged person." ("Hawkeye's Nightmare" s5e13) Neutral

"Sure, nurse..." / "Nurse?! You're talking to a major!" / "Sorry. Would you help us move this guy into pre-op, Major?" ("Post-Op" s5e23) Feminine/Neutral

Season 6

"A head nurse who is part seductress, and part Attila the Hun" ("The Winchester Tapes" s6e4) Feminine/Masculine

[the nurses to Hawkeye] "Do you think you could talk to Hot Lips?" ("Images" s6e9) Feminine

"Hot Lips Houlihan: blonde landmine." ("Patent 4077" s6e16) Feminine

"Congratulations. You're still a major, Major." ("What's Up, Doc?" s6e19) Neutral

Season 7

[about her divorce] "Best thing that ever happened to me. The weight of the world is off my shoulders! I feel like a new woman!" ("Peace On Us" s7e2) Feminine

[BJ] "The king is dead." / [Hawk] "Long live the queen." / [Margaret] "You bet." ("Hot Lips is Back in Town" s7e20) Feminine

"I'm going as far in this man's army as any woman can go. Maybe even general!" ("Hot Lips is Back in Town" s7e20) Feminine

Season 8

"I'm a woman, and I can tell you what it's like for a woman to be away from the man she loves." ("Too Many Cooks" s8e1) Feminine

"To be a woman, with the rank of major..." ("Are You Now, Margaret?" s8e2) Feminine

"Hot Lips?" / "Yeah, that's a nickname she picked up." ("Are You Now, Margaret?" s8e2) Feminine

"Hot Streak Houlihan strikes again!" ("Life Time" s8e11) Neutral

"I'm just as much a major as any other major. You'll notice these leaves come in gold, not pink for girls and blue for boys." ("Stars and Stripes" s8e14) Feminine/Neutral

"What do you suppose I am deep down?" / "Deep, deep down? A woman." / "Go a little deeper." / "A major." / "I'm me. Sometimes a nurse, sometimes a major, sometimes a woman in love... sometimes all three at once." ("Stars and Stripes" s8e14) Feminine/Neutral

[speaking to an infant] "Hello there, sweetheart. I'm your Auntie Margaret." ("Yessir, That's Our Baby" s8e15) Feminine

Season 9

"What's the matter? She isn't man enough to bring it in [to the men's showers] herself?" ("Bless You, Hawkeye" s9e17) Masculine

[speaking to Margaret] "You know, you don't get to be a high-ranking officer, to run an O.R., to command respect, unless you've earned it." ("The Foresight Saga" s9e19) Neutral

Season 10

"I know everybody thinks I'm tough, demanding, insensitive, cold, callous, crabby - feel free to disagree at any time!" / "Think of it this way; maybe you are all that stuff, but deep down underneath, I think maybe there's some more stuff that's... pretty good stuff. You know?" ("The Birthday Girls" s10e11) Neutral

Season 11

"I do not need the help of a nurse." / "It's a good thing I'm a lady or you'd need a nurse, buster!" ("Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" s11e16) Feminine

Total Counts:

Feminine: 19

Masculine: 12

Neutral: 17

These aren't all of the quotes I collected during my rewatch, or the only thing I was paying attention to, but it definitely caught my interest. And laying out like like this, by season, you can really see the trends ebb and flow. Margaret is portrayed pretty firmly as feminine/neutral through the first season, but season two introduces the running joke of other characters referring to her as "Frank" and using he/him due to how often she speaks on his behalf, as well as Radar calling her "sir" rather than "ma'am." She sticks even more firmly to referring to herself neutrally in season five, calling herself an "engaged person" rather than an "engaged woman" on three different occasions.

After her marriage and Frank's departure, Margaret is referred to more femininely again, but she doesn't refer to herself as a woman until season 7, after her divorce. I find it especially interesting to compare "The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" in s5 and "Yessir, That's Our Baby" in s8; both deal with very young infants and show us Margaret's interactions with these babies. In s5, she refers to herself as "Major Houlihan" to the baby, but then in s8, she's "Auntie Margaret." Between these events were her marriage and divorce, and Margaret's self-confidence being boosted by her work on herself and her duties as head nurse.

BJ refers to Margaret loosely in masculine terms in s9, and it's the first time the joke has been really touched on since s6, when Charles compares her to Attila the Hun. This is the last time anyone refers to Margaret as masculine, with the final two seasons having her presented either neutrally (by rank) or femininely (as a "lady").

Margaret's character journey actually can be tracked through this list of quotes pretty well. She's more of an antagonist when she's referred to more often with masculine terms, and as she develops into a more traditional protagonist, the narrative refers to her with more feminine terms. The fact that Margaret herself is most likely to use feminine terms when she's at her most confident in herself is definitely interesting, and I think says a lot about how her confidence is tied into her self-image.

#margaret houlihan #mash #m.a.s.h #hot lips #max is talking #my stuff

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rescue-ram · 4 months

Note

Do you ever think about what BJ, Charles and/or Potter might've been like if they'd been early season additions?

Oooh inchresting question :3c

I think Charles could actually fit in in early season MASH pretty easily and well. DOS is very very funny, and he'd be a nice compliment to Frank. Like I think they would actually play off each other really well in really funny ways, I think Charles would fully manipulate Frank while being slightly disgusted by him and they'd have a really funny dynamic as antagonists, I can fully imagine the way Larry Linvelle and DOS would play off each other and I wish it existed 🥲 In my ideal world, he'd be the fourth Swamp Rat, and the uneasy FrankCharles vs TrapHawk rivalry would free Margaret up for the sort of independent story lines she got after Frank left in the actual series. I'm not sure Charles himself would necessarily have the room for the softer character moments he got in the series in this scenario, but just on a character dynamics level I can fully imagine him fitting into the vibe of S1-3.

(This actually gave me a bit of a fic idea for this AU where Charles steals a weekend pass to Tokyo TrapHawk scammed off of Henry, and like we cut between Charles impersonating Hawkeye as he tries to get back to the hospital he worked at before being at the 4077th to beg for his old job and keeps running into people who vaguely know Hawkeye and Trapper trying to track him down and reluctantly talking him into coming back before he's caught and arrested for deserting his post, maybe with them getting one night of bonding over unseemly cavorting before going back...)

Potter, if Henry was still the CO, could actually be kind of an interesting recurring character I think? Like after The Trial of Henry Blake maybe the higher ups want a tighter more military eye on the 4077th, and Potter fills that roll of the outsider who doesn't quite get the madness and wants to impose some discipline on the camp- whether he then gets trolled or won over, eh. I think he could work, and it would be fun to see him interact with some of the characters, but I'm less interested in him than hypothetical early season Charles.

BJ I think would be the hardest fit- because he is, before anything else, a replacement Trapper and if Trapper is already there... Well, Charles can still be an antagonist even if Frank is there, but can BJ really join the TrapHawk axis without third wheeling? I think he'd ultimately suffer a similar fate as Oliver, where the writers wouldn't know what to do with him apart from letting him tag along... And I don't think he'd cause enough friction or drama to be interesting in that regard, you know? He'd be like a lot of the recurring characters we see in the early seasons- a nice guy our heroes like, but I don't think he'd work as a compliment to Frank and he wouldn't bring enough spice to be an interesting addition to TrapHawk since he and Trapper would both be filling the "best friend" role... I mean now I'm thinking on how you COULD make him work, maybe leaning fully into his stochastic prankster side and having him be a third power against both TrapHawk and FrankMarg, or giving him a new buddy to ally with and play off of like Radar or Klinger, but I just think he'd be the trickiest to fit in you know?

#mash #thank you for the interesting ask :3c

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remyfire · 9 months

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If you’re still doing kiss roulette can I get hawkeye and Mulcahy ?

(Hello! Sorry these are getting done so late, but I am still working through them and loving every moment! You get! A kiss to the neck!

I really hope you enjoy!)

There is never necessarily a convenient time to search for something in the supply tent—if an item is requested, then it is always needed with incredible haste—but there's a certain frustration in having only the moonlight by which to comb through the shelves. Despite his quiet questions after if there was a spare lamp, which went ignored, and his decent memory of where they might be, which has failed him, Francis finds himself huffing a sigh as he slips past the door and lets it shut quietly behind him.

It's no one's fault, he reminds himself, that the power has been cut off from a faulty generator, and frankly he should be incredibly grateful that there are no wounded who need surgery right now. Radar has already sent for the part that's needed to fix the generator, and they have confirmation that it's on the way and should be here within the hour.

There too is another way to deliver light—through an act of service—and truly if the only way Francis can currently be of assistance is to find a fresh box of gauze in here and deliver it to post-op, then he'll do so with a grateful heart.

Though they might've sent someone without a preexisting vision condition, he thinks wryly.

"Well." He heaves a sigh, grips his crucifix. "If it be Your will, then perhaps You might illuminate my path."

Unsurprisingly, there is a faint pang of amusement in Francis's gut, one he doesn't associate with himself, necessarily, and he rolls his eyes. "Or maybe not," he murmurs back, but with a degree of fondness.

When Francis is alone like this, he finds it monumentally less difficult to find the divine threads interwoven with his veins. When he is leading a poorly-attended service, offering confession, or doing most any ceremonial task, it's difficult for him to own up to, but there's an element of the performative there, something which always plagues him. He'll know the right words to say, the right movements, and yet he'll be powerfully aware of the eyes on him and the calling he doesn't wish to fumble.

Tucked in a dark room with no one around but himself, Francis has fewer senses to distract him. He can interpret the emotions he feels with less uncertainty. He knows where he feels his own joy...and where he considers the mirth that he'll feel from, well, Him.

Things he can't really talk about with anyone else in this camp—and without many of his fellow practitioners either. Not without feeling their confusion, their concern, their judgment.

The longer you think about this, the longer those patients go without fresh bandages, he remembers, and with a deep breath and a hand held far in front of him, Francis begins feeling his way through the tent.

Due to the watchful eye of Major Houlihan, it's rare that the supply tent is rearranged in between shipments. If there's a large-scale shift needed, she supervises carefully, and after Francis gets through the initial hiccup, he inevitably finds his way around once again. But thankfully it's been quite some time since one of those, and he knows to trace along the cool metal of the shelf, all the way to the end, then let his fingertips hop to the next, and the next.

It's these shelves tucked near the back that hold his quest item, and Francis finally slows his progress to squint, do his best to discern one object from the next. He'd rather not experience the humiliation of bringing the wrong type of gauze nor the humility of needing to smile through his mistake as he returns to locate the correct one. But as he's halfway down the row, he catches sight of the nook at the rear. Pauses.

Behind him, a streak of moonlight cuts through the window, illuminates the mattress and rumpled blankets upon it. He can see the bare edge of a shiny plastic thing on the ground, and Francis blinks as he takes a step closer, pauses, then a few more. There's nothing to fear here. What this area symbolizes has no more power than a purple mark he'll see on a neck, a bra pinned to the bulletin board.

But when he kneels down and picks up the open item, he realizes it's an empty condom wrapper, and in a flare of shocked heat, he flicks it away.

A man of his age—and especially of his calling—should be less...less reactive to things like this. Not so flustered when he realizes what he's touched. But all he can suddenly think of is a man's nude body, painfully erect, his strong hand slowly rolling a condom down his hard penis, and suddenly he might as well be sunburned from head to toe.

Francis rises to his feet. Tugs his hat off and clutches it in his hands, right against his belly. He doesn't...it's not that he thinks that he'll need to...conceal anything, not when he's become such an expert over the years of redirecting his mind. In fact, now that he's staring holes through the tent wall, he can summon all of his focus to reject this part of himself. Tamp it down. Envision sitting within a frozen field of snow and ice, meditating, not a single soul for miles. There is only Francis, his Lord, and the lovely frigid walls rising up within him, and the clack of plastic—

The clack of plastic.

"There you are."

As arms wrap around his waist and yank him backward, a million things swim at once into dizzying focus—the hanger finally settling against the Supply Tent door, the syrupy masculine voice that could only belong to Hawkeye Pierce, the hungry and biting heat right on his throat. Francis lets out a sharp cry as he stiffens in place, hands flying down to push away the grip that holds him there, but...but then he bites and sucks and moans, and all at once, his knees give out completely.

"Been thinking about you all day."

If he was sunburned before, he's thrown straight into a bonfire now, where his ancestors used to toss women who were too independent, not to mention other sinners—

Hawkeye's groan is sugary sweet yet rich as licorice, the conflicting sensations sending Francis on a roller coaster as he throws his head back and finally drops his hat. This. This is what they warn about, the way that you'll be overtaken all at once, how a million devilish servants will pick you up and fly away with you and never let you find the ground beneath your feet again. You'll chase and chase and chase and chase, but there'll be no peace, only—

"C'mon, lemme hear you, huh? Gimme those pretty moans you've got." Hawkeye purrs right before he shifts to hot, wet kisses over Francis's sensitive skin, the kind that leave him sinking back into his grip, overwhelmed, somehow finding himself at the point of tears at the exquisiteness—no, no, at the...the...

It's only when a hand rushes up his body, under his green jacket, and over his chest that everything stops.

Francis whimpers, tips his head further.

Suddenly he's falling backwards, and Francis just barely manages to catch himself on a shelf, on the hand he throws behind him too. Like an awkward crab just recovering from escaping a boiling pot, he blinks, skitters slightly to flop onto his knees, then chances a nervous look up.

Hawkeye gapes at him, brows high, mouth hanging open, and when he starts shaking his head, there is no true way to articulate Francis's level of shame. He feels it so rarely. Only on the nights where he...lapses a bit. Where his hand might wander while he's alone in his cot, thinking of clever surgeon hands and mischievous smiles.

Right. Francis bows his head and clears his throat. I...yes, right.

"Jesus, Father, I—sorry. Sorry about that. About the Jesus. About the—" Hawkeye splutters for a moment longer, then holds out a hand. "You okay? You hurt?"

"Well, I..." Francis can't help but breathe a single chuckle, one that's tinged with a taste of his own bitterness. "Only on the neck, I believe."

"Shit. Sorry. I, uh..." As Hawkeye helps him to his feet, he's careful about it, his other hand coming to cup Francis's elbow to steady him as though Hawkeye was perhaps the one to push him. "I know it's not exactly the dead of winter or anything, but can I suggest a turtleneck?"

"I'll consider it. Though perhaps we can pass it off as a creative form of stigmata."

Hawkeye barks a shocked laugh, but it falls away just as fast, and Francis is left with his hand held, his throat sore, his neck cooling from...from Hawkeye's...saliva, where he'd bitten, where he'd marked him. Another flood of fire washes over him, but he doesn't feel as cleansed as the three who were thrown within Nebuchadnezzar's furnace.

There are words that need to be exchanged here, of course. The reminder that even if Hawkeye Pierce might think about Francis in this sort of way, it isn't permissible. That there's nothing Francis could ever give him that could make him happy. That—

The hanger clatters louder this time, and suddenly Nurse Madeline comes around the corner, tall and lovely and...blonde. That darling little pixie cut of hers.

The realization hits and makes Francis's blood run cold. Of course.

"Goodness, I seem to have...interrupted a medical discussion," Francis manages to say with a small smile.

"Don't worry, Father," Nurse Madeline murmurs with a smile. "I'll see you this weekend."

At confession, he realizes. Ah. His brows shoot up as he looks between them both, but all he can find is amusement on her face, something indecipherable on Hawkeye's. It isn't the first time that Francis has interrupted an interlude, just...just not...quite so preemptively. But while he'd expect Hawkeye to tease him about that, all he can see through the darkness is how the dark-haired man is refusing to look away.

Finally, Hawkeye seems to come back to himself. "Gauze, right?" He takes a quick step, leans, and snags a fresh box of it. "Here. Should be what Margaret's looking for."

"Oh, why...thank you." Francis reaches for it, but Hawk cups his knuckles and makes him gasp. Very carefully, Hawkeye makes sure that the box is tucked safely into his palm, then uses his own touch to wrap Francis's fingers around it.

He looks at Hawkeye one more time. And from this closer distance, he can more easily interpret the flecks of blue heat in his irises.

Francis clears his throat as he slips between them, making sure he brushes neither. "I'll be going then."

"Good night, Father," Hawkeye says softly behind him. Almost fondly, he might be tricked to say.

Francis hesitates at the end of the row, swallows the stone in his throat, then quickly makes his way out of the tent. To safety. To linger in disappointment, confusion, and incredibly fervent prayers.

#thank you so much for the prompt! i enjoyed writing it very much #hawkeye pierce #father mulcahy #francis mulcahy #father francis mulcahy #hawkahy #m*a*s*h #my writing #ask meme answers

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