I did a rewatch of MASH last year and bumped on this episode. I think A or D are the only possible answers, and I lean towards A. Of course the episode would be written differently today, but we are dealing with two historical contexts here, not quite different than 2020: the 1970s and the 1950s. And even in the more racist of those two, the point is what a dick the General is.
Related to this, I am in midst of a re-watch of Wings (humiliating to admit, has something to do with just watching Monk for first time and having a 22 yo son who had never heard of Wings and could not make sense of the gags in the Monk episode where he gets on a commercial plane). Anyway, a late series episode of Wings has one of the brothers taking a picture of his penis, which *hilariously* winds up on a roll of film that gets sent to Helen’s mother. First, wow - a dick pic in the early 90s? I don’t remember that as being a thing until digital cameras. But also, wow, quite a shock to see the brothers think of this as cute frat boy stuff and not creepy. Still, while there is always an argument to ban all of Wings from every platform on creative grounds, I would not want to see this episode (or any of the many casually homophobic episodes, which the show has in common with Friends) censored. On Thu, Jun 25, 2020 at 10:16 AM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Jun 25, 2020 at 5:49 AM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> I think D is the only possibility right now. MASH is too aimed at a >> general audience to try to contextualize it. As an avid TCM viewer, I'm >> well enough aware of the problematic portrayals of non-white people in >> studio-era films that, as repulsive as some of them can be, I can >> understand them without excusing them. Even GWTW on HBO is playing to a >> more exclusive audience that may not be aware of its myriad problems, but >> at least now has the introduction to put them into some kind of perspective. >> >> I realize this episode's heart is in the right place, but it feels like >> something best avoided than thrust into an unsuspecting viewer's face. >> > > I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, TV sitcoms were never meant > to be museum pieces, available to be observed in a pristine condition > forever. They were meant to be broadcast at a certain time to a certain > audience. The syndication model made it extremely lucrative to keep running > them even for decades. If a change in social conventions or attitudes means > a joke crossed a line that wasn't there 45 years ago then by all means pull > the episode. > > On the other hand it becomes difficult to describe how ambient racism or > misogyny were in that era without available references. Pulling the episode > from MeTV and leaving it in DVD box sets seems appropriate. I don't know if > MASH is available on a subscription streaming service. If so, a warning at > the beginning of the episode should be enough. > > What bothered me more than General Steele in the series was the character > of Spearchucker Jones who was introduced in the book, was in the movie, and > then was in the first few episodes of the TV series. Even though the > character was a neurosurgeon in the book (I don't remember if they gave him > a specialty in the movie or TV series) I knew as far back as when I started > watching in the 70s that the name was offensive. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiHc8Z1p9-7%3DvVp-ah3fFaEzu3AosLuTz%2B662bS4-%2B6Ovw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiHc8Z1p9-7%3DvVp-ah3fFaEzu3AosLuTz%2B662bS4-%2B6Ovw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJ9EKNgwZMQwgvDNUhJwwNcThgqrUrVHKA6eVgpm3voxQ%40mail.gmail.com.
