Spoiler Warning: This essay discusses the entirety of M*A*S*H (the TV series).
Most people think I’m crazy when I first tell them that I watch M*A*S*H through a homoerotic lens. I guess they think I’m crazy for even watching a 40-year-old show in general, but even more so when I explain to them that I wholeheartedly believe that the main characters are in love with each other. But before we get to that claim, let’s explore how themes of toxic masculinity, misogyny, fatherhood, and displays of sexuality blend together, depicting complex relationships between male characters.
M*A*S*H centers around a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the middle of the Korean war. The show focuses on Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda), a talented surgeon whose favorite pastimes are drinking martinis and fraternizing with nurses. A large part of his personality being centered around being a womanizing bachelor may suggest an underlying motive to his relationship with women and his own masculinity. Throughout the series it is demonstrated that his biggest role model is his father, who is also a doctor. It’s revealed later on that he is an only child with few female role models in his life, as his mother died when he was only 10. Knowing these facts make it easier to consider the implications of his interactions with the men and women in the camp.
Hawkeye’s bunkmate/best friend in the first three seasons, Trapper John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers), takes pride in being a husband and father of two girls, despite being unfaithful on countless occasions while in Korea. Similarly, the camp’s colonel officer in the first three seasons Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) is a father who is also unfaithful to his wife. These varying themes of toxic masculinity, misogyny, fatherhood, and sexuality make Korea even more of a warzone for Hawkeye.
The first three seasons do not shy from depicting blatant misogyny coming from the male personnel toward the nurses. Distasteful sexual innuendos and objectifications of women flood the first three seasons, probably resulting from both the time period it is set in as well as the period it was made in, which was in the early 1970s. As the show goes on there is a gradual decline in the misogynistic ways the main characters treat women, especially Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Loretta Swit), the main female character. By the later seasons she is no longer called this nickname nor is she objectified as much as she was in the earlier seasons. In turn, she becomes closer to the men in the later seasons and clearly begins to see herself more as an equal.
Despite the show being made in the 1970s, it was rather progressive in many areas regarding social issues and most of the characters hold progressive ideas as well, aside from the despicable Frank Burns (Larry Linville). In one episode called “George” (season 2 episode 22), a wounded soldier comes through the camp and confides in Hawkeye about being gay. Hawkeye, Trapper, and Henry try to keep his secret safe in order to protect him, however Frank threatens to report the soldier. The episode concludes with the three characters having victory over Frank’s bigotry. This has been noted as one of the first episodes of TV to depict a gay person without making the person’s sexuality the butt of the joke.
Although the show did not shy away from some of these displays of toxic masculinity, it was rather free in the way the male characters interacted with one another. In the beginning of the show, the main characters, specifically Hawkeye and Trapper, are quite close with each other. And aside from Hawkeye’s sense of masculinity and sexuality, these themes are depicted through the character Max Klinger (Jamie Farr), who wears dresses and other feminine, outlandish clothing (such as a Cleopatra costume) throughout the majority of the series. He wears these clothes in hopes to try and get discharged from the army with a Section Eight, which would declare him too mentally unstable to serve. No one in the camp buys this act from him, nor are they unaccepting of it. However, Klinger continues to wear these clothes and even questions his true motive for wearing them, realizing that over time he begins to like them despite knowing they wouldn’t get him out of the army. The overall acceptance from those around him emphasizes that although there are components of toxic masculinity present in the camp, it is much more complex among the relationship between the men and in their own identities.
Hawkeye and Trapper’s friendship, at many times, mirrors the domesticity and affection seen in heterosexual relationships at this time. The two of them are inseparable, constantly joking with each other in and out of the operating room, and making quips at each other that seem very flirtatious. The two of them even ballroom dance together while alone in their tent. When Trapper is sent back to the states he is not able to say goodbye to Hawkeye, which leaves Hawkeye feeling betrayed. It is clear in Alda’s portrayal that Hawkeye had felt a real connection with Trapper, and his feeling of betrayal leaves him with a fear of abandonment that proves detrimental to him for the rest of the series.
Though the first three seasons felt like a boy’s fest, the beginning of season four ushers in a completely new feel to the show — Trapper is replaced by the young, faithful husband and brand new father B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell) while Henry Blake is replaced by the older family man Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan). Hawkeye and B.J. almost instantly become best friends, and as the seasons go on the two become closer. Hawkeye noticeably becomes less interested in and less successful in pursuing the nurses. This can be perceived in four different ways: B.J.’s rejection of bachelor culture has rubbed off on Hawkeye;Hawkeye’s character is written to be more respectful of women; the nurses see Hawkeye and B.J.’s close friendship as a threat; or Hawkeye is too committed to B.J. to try and pick up these women anymore. Hawkeye and B.J.’s relationship is even more domestic and physically affectionate (touching each other often, spending most of their free-time out of surgery together, knitting together) than Hawkeye and Trapper’s relationship — so much so that other people in the camp pick up on it. The pair become quite codependent, and even fight like an old married couple.
Throughout the entire show, there are many instances in which there is a very noticeable drift between the childless Hawkeye and his family-oriented peers. Even in the earlier seasons when married characters cheat on their wives, they sometimes also show their vulnerable sides in which they admit that they need their wives. Hawkeye is never able to relate to them on a personal level, leaving them frustrated when he attempts to comfort them. Later in the show’s tenure there are two episodes in which Hawkeye’s lack of familial duty causes problems between him and B.J. In one of these episodes, called “Period of Adjustment” (season 8 episode 6) B.J. receives a letter from his wife telling him that the MASH company clerk Radar (Gary Burghoff) who was sent back to the states got to meet B.J.’s wife and daughter at the airport. Since B.J.’s daughter is a toddler, she mistakes Radar for her father, calling him “Daddy”. This sends B.J. into a spiral, causing himself to try and drink himself out of the army. When Hawkeye tries to explain to him that everyone misses their families, B.J. goes into a rage, breaking their alcohol still and punching Hawkeye in the face. B.J. argues that Hawkeye doesn’t truly understand how he feels because he doesn’t have a child and that him missing his father is not the same. Instances like these cause Hawkeye to feel different from the other men in the camp, which frustrates him because he had been in Korea longer than many of them. He feels he deserves to go home to his father just as much as they deserve to go home to their wives and children. Their feud ends with Hawkeye listening to B.J. as he cries over missing his daughter’s childhood, and holding B.J.’s head in consolation.
In the series finale, Hawkeye is in the military psychiatric ward being treated by Sidney Freedman (Allan Arbus), and recounts some traumatic experiences that have led him there, but highlights one of the last times he was truly happy — at a beach on the Fourth of July with the camp. The flashback of the beach shows everyone playing and running around — truly looking care-free for the first time over the show’s run. Later in the episode, the camp finds out that the war is finally coming to an end, and that everyone is about to go back to the States. Amidst the excitement, this ending is bittersweet for many of the main characters, specifically Hawkeye and B.J. who will be on opposite ends of the country.
Hawkeye and B.J.’s farewell scene is definitely a tearjerker, with Hawkeye being the one to initiate most of the sincerity. For the first time, Hawkeye truly feels comfortable expressing how he truly feels, although it seems B.J. still latches on to the component of toxic masculinity which makes it hard for him to express how he feels, especially to another man. Hawkeye tells B.J., “I’ll never be able to shake you” before the two embrace. Since Hawkeye suffers from the fear of abandonment after Trapper wasn’t able to leave him a goodbye note when he was discharged, B.J. shows some of his own sentiment by making an effort to leave Hawkeye a note. He spells “GOODBYE” in rocks so that Hawkeye can look down at them as he’s flown away in a chopper, while the theme song plays for the very last time.
Hawkeye’s time at the 4077th is defined by love, loss, and personal growth. Though the show does not shy away from sending an anti-war message and even promoting more liberal themes, Hawkeye’s time in Korea helped define him as a person. He met his best friends there and potentially, the love of his life.
