Yeah, and did you ever notice how Korea and Southern California look exactly the same!
Of course the TV show was based on the movie, which in turn was based on the books, which were about the Korean War.
But by the time the TV show came out, the Korean War was mostly forgotten, and the writers and producers based everything in the show with their ideas about the Vietnam war instead. Just like Renaissance painters used to depict characters wearing contemporary clothing even when it was a scene from antiquity. You think army doctors in Korea had haircuts like that?
Sherlock openly states that he’s a high functioning sociopath, and he despises people. The only reason he solves crimes is because he enjoys the intellectual challenge, he doesn’t give a shit about helping people. He’s supposed to be a huge jerk.
The helicopters were most certainly **not **Hueys. THIS is a Huey over Vietnam:
THIS is a vintage Bell 47, the type that was used on MASH***:
The use of medevac helicopters and mobile surgical hospitals in Korea led to a dramatic rise in survivability for wounded soldiers, compared to WWII levels.
We’re led to believe that saints are perfect people. They aren’t.
Read what the Wu Wei I Ching says about the Superior Person (google ‘Wu Wei Superior Person’ and look for the google book link, then go to the end before the index. It is quite long).
NO ONE can be that person. You’d have to be God in the omniscience required to always be that person.
Instead, we are Human. We all have Human foibles.
Hell, even Rama was something of a dick at times, and he’s regarded as the 7th avatar of Vishnu, along with Krishna and Buddha.
I wonder about Sir Thomas More in “A Man for All Seasons”, one of the greatest films evermade. Certainly he is willing to die for his beliefs. But I can also see why Henry VIII, Cardinal Woolsey and Thomas Cromwell want the marriage to Katherine of Aragon annulled. Certainly it would have been better for people to accept women as equals. But they didn’t and I’m sure many felt that if Mary became Quuen regnant, they’d have another “War of the Roses” situation that devastated England 40 years earlier or “The Anarchy” back in the 12th century when Henry I tried to leave the throne to his daughter Matilda.
That is a major change that that version makes to the character. She’s a “real dragon” from beginning to end in the book, and AFAIK, in every other film version.
Incorrect. The show did include a weird amalgam of a Vietnam-era agenda, contemporary attitudes (and hairstyles) and California scenery, but it was unequivocally set during the Korean War, both physically and temporally.
The helicopters have been addressed. I assume the uniforms and other visible military indicators of the era were more or less correct or I would have heard something about it by now.
There were many other aspects of the setting that were definitely Korean/Non-Vietnamese, such as the actors used to play locals, (more often of Chinese or Japanese ancestry, but could pass for Korean looks-wise.) Typical Vietnamese people look markedly different. Also, the show depicted very cold winters. Seoul-area winter temps are regularly well below freezing and they get wicked cold snaps that come in from Siberia. Vietnam rarely dips below 60 F (16 C) at its coldest.
It’s often said that the TV version of MASH was really “about” Vietnam, and I agree with that. But it is unequivocally set IN Korea.
I often wonder if the character of Colonel Potter was designed in part as a counterpoint to the negative portrayals of “regular army” people, such as Hotlips, the random characters you mention, and draftees that bought into those attitudes like Frank Burns. Potter had been a regular army guy since he lied about his age to fight in World War I, and I think he portrayed the best aspects of a career in the army (discipline, opportunities for advancement, range of experience and skills, confidence, stability) without any of the stereotypical negative attitudes shown by many other regular army types. He also demonstrated that there were benefits to working within the system most of the time as opposed to fighting and undermining it at every step.
I agree that the lack of discussion of the particular justifications of the Korean War is troubling and that the “all war unnecessary” rhetoric is jarring in the Korean context. Whether people at the time could be convinced that our involvement was truly justified isn’t as open-and-shut as you imply, given that the “domino theory” was widely disputed, the facts of the matter (NK invaded our ally, SK, in order take it over) were indeed quite straightforward.
The apparent futility of the war was alluded to multiple times in discussions of taking and re-taking the same damn hill over and over. By the 70s, we knew that the result was a NK/SK border in virtually the same place it had been before. That might have made it seem like it was all in vain, but only if you ignored the fact that the South was able to keep their territory.
From a 2017 perspective…well, it’s a no-brainer, right? The formerly prosperous and technologically advanced North is now a total disaster while the backwater South became a worldwide economic powerhouse. I mean, in the 70s, who woulda thunk that someone would ever say “I know it’s pricier, but I want a really awesome TV! I’m going to splurge and buy a Korean brand to watch my MASH reruns on!” :: goes to hug her Samsung ::
You know, of course, that More was a real person, not a character of fiction? I think his portrayal in the movie (and the play that preceded it) was pretty accurate.
Then again everyone among the major races were at some point shown to be up to something other than what they wanted others to perceive.
Mostly, yes. It helps that the Army in 1951 still looked a whole lot like the Army in 1945 and Hollywood still had tons of WW2-era props in the mid 70s. Once in a while you’d run into some dialog reference, visible publication/poster or piece of gear or materiel that would be from the *late *instead of *early *1950s.
Welcome to the start of term feast here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all that the Forbidden Forest is…forbidden. Except for detentions, when children shall be forced to go into the deepest, scariest parts, with minimal adult supervision. Oh, at night; that will really teach them a lesson. Hey, I’m really good at this discipline thing! Ten points for Dumbledore!
(NOTE: not my own work. I’ll try to track down the original, perhaps with attribution, upon request.)
Huh. In the version I saw, they think they shouldn’t have to pay rent just because they took their friend (who owned the building) at his word when he told them they didn’t have to.
They should have had the presence of mind to say “No backsies!” at the time, I guess.
Wasn’t there a red medevac unit badge on display somewhere (Rosie’s Bar, I think) that *did *feature a Huey helicopter? THAT would definitely be an anachronism!
