MASH and the Struggle of Life
Against Death
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MASH is probably the best
and most humane series that has ever aired on television.
It depicts two societies -- a society of life, led by doctors,
  and a society of death, which is represented by a caricatured
depiction of the U.S. military.

The society of death kills people, often mindlessly,
and its rules and corruption rob life of much of its meaning.
The society of life saves them.
While the society of death sends young boys to die
on the front lines, MASH depicts
the society of life as fighting back on its own front lines,
in the operating room.

The society of life is led by Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce,
a "wounded surgeon"  who is constantly trying to save
everyone else, but can't save himself.

Hawkeye pierces through pretensions and manipulates
the society of death to stop it from destroying people.
He operates in surgery and he is an "operator"
who constantly works the system to help those around him.

He is a classic savior figure, trapped in a world
that is lost in its own craziness.

Here he is in one of MASH's later episodes,
looking somewhat worn for wear.

The society of life has various other characteristics, as well.
Among them, it is tolerant of imperfection.
It accepts people as they are and is thus able to include within itself
interesting characters like Maxwell Klinger.

This was the basic theme of MASH
and it remained constant from the first episode to the last.

But in the latter part of the series MASH became
both more ironic and more humane.
As it did so, it started including all the main characters
in its society of life.

Among them was Col. Potter who provided a less
caricatured image of the military.
Potter partook of both societies and, so,
was able to act as a go-between from one to the other.

Even Major Houlihan appeared to change sides
and join the society of life, as she went from being
"Hot Lips" Houlihan, the cardboard cutout of conservative
and military hypocrisy, to Margaret Houlihan,
a military officer who was also a normal human being.

Actually this change provides an insight
into what may be the biggest secret of MASH --
the military characters became less caricatured because,
as the vision of the series matured,
it began to break down the boundary
between the two societies.

The main military characters became more humane
because, in the end, MASH came as close
as it could to recognizing
that everyone was on the same side.

MASH Essay with links
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