MASH Survey!

[captain-lubey.livejournal.com]

To celebrate the release of MASH Season 11 in Australia I am posting this little survey that I found. Please fill it out because I would like to see what you people love about MASH!

 

These are my favourite MASH moments!

Character: Series 1-5 Hawkeye, series 6-11 Charles

 

Least fav: Mulcahy, he was sweet but too annoying *gets attacked by rabid Mulcahy fans*

 

Favourite ep: 'Movie Tonight' and 'Mr and Mrs Who?'

 

Least favourite ep: Some episodes are kinda crap (all series have those!) but overall I'm happy with the entire series.

What ticked you off? When Klinger stopped wearing dresses, I loved that cross-dressing Corporal!

 

What made you cry? When Hawkeye and Kyung Soon shared that romantic moment in the ep 'In Love and War'.

 

What made you feel fuzzy? Hawkeye/Trapper or Hawkeye/BJ moments.

 

What made you feel sleepy? When I watch the show late at night lol.

*

Comments

[soi.livejournal.com]

Character: Frank, hands down. He's somehow managed to become my favorite fictional character ever.


Least fav: Hawkeye. I'm sure part of this is just a side effect of being a Frank fan, but honestly, after a while, his snarky self-righteousness just grates on me to the point where I want to knock him out.


Favourite ep: I'm not really sure. I love the ones that make me cry, because I'm an idiot, but I also love the fun ones. "As You Were" was pretty great, I love the gorilla suits.


Least favourite ep: "Hawkeye." I spend the entire series wishing he'd shut up for a while, and I get an entire episode devoted to his doing just the opposite.


What ticked you off? When Hawkeye (....oh, there is such a pattern here) yelled at Radar in "Fallen Idol." Oh my GOD, I never forgave him for that.


What made you cry? "Abyssinia Henry," of course, and in retrospect, the scene in an earlier episode where they watch that home video from Henry's family just because I know he never got to see them again. Also, at the end of "Margaret's Marriage" when Frank's standing alone watching the helicopter fly off.


What made you feel fuzzy? I always thought the Charles and Klinger bonding moments were the cutest things ever. Also, most Mulcahy scenes, because he's adorable.


What made you feel sleepy? Watching reruns on the Hallmark channel after midnight. And, you know, listening to Hawkeye's little spiels.

[katiemariie.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm in total agreement with you on the Frank!love and Hawkeye!tolerate thing. I thought I was the only one. There's somebody who roots for the underdog.

[soi.livejournal.com]

Awesome, it's SO rare to find that.

[captain-lubey.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to agree with you on a certain level.

There were a few times throughout series 1-5 where I thought Hawkeye and Trapper/BJ were really cruel to Frank (although most of the time I thought it was amusing lol). I felt sorry for him during 'Margaret's Engagement' and 'Margaret's Marriage'. So, on the subject of Frank I would have to say I love/hate him.

I also agree (slightly ;-)) that Hawkeye's self righteousness did get really annoying! Alan Alda did kind of shove his morals and values down our throats during the last few seasons. However I still heart Hawk but I think he was the most fun during seasons 1-8!

Btw...love your icon lol!

[soi.livejournal.com]

Okay, now that I've written that whole serious Frank thing a few comments down, as a disclaimer, I'll say that it WAS hilarious when Frank made a total ass of himself, and, lots of times, when Trapper and Hawkeye played jokes on him (putting him in that crate while he was sleeping cracked me up so hard). Part of what I love about him is definitely what an absolute idiot he can be. XD So... yeah, I appreciate him on several levels. <3

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grayswandir_/]

Actually, I think what they did with Frank added an interesting dimension to Hawkeye's character. The show never seemed to make up its mind about whether Frank was an unforgivable jerk or a sad, screwed-up guy who was trying his best but just couldn't get anything right, no matter which side he tried to play on. He tried being military, and everyone hated him for that; he tried being "one of the guys," but the "guys" didn't want him. He was an idiot and an ass, but in his own way, he was also subtly tragic (unlike Hawkeye, whose tragedy hits you over the head).

I think the interesting thing is that Hawkeye never even tried to see beneath the surface with Frank. With most other characters, Hawkeye forgave them over time, and even tried to understand them; but he was still cracking jokes about Frank in the very last episode, ages after Frank had been sent home. I think it shows a telling character flaw, one of the few we get to see in Hawkeye; he's usually portrayed as being so perceptive, but with Frank he never was.

It shows a pettiness and a meanness and possibly even a hint of jealousy in Hawkeye that makes him a worse man, maybe, but a better character. Or at least a more believable character. I think Frank and Hawkeye complemented each other well on the show; they had an interesting dynamic.

I do get what you're saying about Hawkeye's snarky self-righteousness, though. He's obviously central to the series, but I think he often works better when he's not the one in the spotlight.

Whoa... long random comment. :/ Don't mind me...

[captain-lubey.livejournal.com]

It shows a pettiness and a meanness and possibly even a hint of jealousy in Hawkeye that makes him a worse man, maybe, but a better character. Or at least a more believable character.

Definitely, the fact that he could never forgive Frank for anything does make Hawkeye more believable and it just proves that nobody's perfect!

The show never seemed to make up its mind about whether Frank was an unforgivable jerk or a sad, screwed-up guy who was trying his best

I think it was possibly a little bit of both...as the late, great Larry Linville once said:
'Frank Burns is everywhere.' (Correct me if I'm wrong!)

This comment got so much longer than I intended.

[soi.livejournal.com]

The thing about Frank is that it's not really fair to consider him unforgivable because he was shaped entirely by other people. All the little glimpses we get into his family life and childhood, they're almost always these throwaway jokes meant to emphasize what an unlikeable loser he is, but when you add them all up, you can see exactly why he is what he is. He's built up all these pretenses trying to get the approval he was never able get as himself, and he never does.

In an interview, Larry Linville said, "You had to know that he could feel pain like anyone else... maybe more than anyone else." Frank was an incredibly sensitive character; to cover it up and protect himself, he just built up on his guise of being the authoritarian hardass. This is a big part of what bothers me about Hawkeye so much, that as much as he complained about what a terrible person Frank was, he helped make him that way and only continued to make him worse.

...Good lord, I get way too involved in things. Anyway, you're right, they showed Frank as a combination of unforgivable and pitiable, but I think they focused too much on the former. They'd created this character who was a fascinating psychological mess and they decided to keep using him as the butt of every joke rather than really give him a chance for development when there was so much room for it. Every time they started to, it was shot right down in the next scene. And that's kind of tragic in itself.

[soi.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with you on this, and that's just another part of what makes me like Hawkeye less. I think it makes him more interesting, maybe, but, like you said, a less respectable person.

I think it's kind of weird how few people seem to notice this. There are a lot of fans who think Hawkeye is the best person in the world, and while most of the time he IS a very good person, they don't realize that he's only good to you if he thinks you're worth it.