similarities: bi4bi Queens, gender as Performance/Movement/Social Role, gender as Costume, shared language of appreciation of said Performance and Costume, Gender as whatever works for the Bit (but taking the gender itself deadly seriously), whip-sharp bitchy rebukes against overt/covert bigotry, comedic exaggeration of queerness as a defence against bigotry and because it’s fun, pronoun hoarders, open queerness as a lens through which their relationships to others are largely defined, queerness as a lens through which large portions of their idealism, hard work, and kindness is defined, emotionally splayed open and therefore easy targets, but that’s also one of their strengths – resisting becoming hardened by the beat downs, both of them have been hurt substantially by people they opened their hearts to, both of them deserve to be treated like princesses, both of them seem to come from close-knit communities in which their queerness was more accepted than it would be immediately outside of those bubbles, Drag of any kind turns them both on, I feel like they’ve both played “the girl’s role” in a school play at some point and made out with someone of any gender while in that costume/role, non-religious? Judaism/Islam as another kind of Camp, overall the Knowing Queer/Gender Play of them both – including around/playing off of each other
differences: loose-limbed middle-class (previously naïve and maybe still a bit) dandy (Hawkeye) vs working class wiry pragmatic about how the world works queer (Klinger), Klinger as a lesbian/mainly attracted to women and gender non-conformity (have yet to land on where I think their tastes in men stand), Hawkeye as attracted to masculinity, butchness, gender non-conformity, and simply Capable People, “I’m just a silly boy who doesn’t know when to stop talking in order to avoid violence against my person” Hawkeye vs “I’ll fist-fight you right now in the parking-lot for mocking my lace and/or Toledo” Klinger
also something about Klinger possibly being able to return to Toledo (keeping his world small and therefore safe – I know there’s a post-MASH show, but I’m not necessarily considering that canon whatever it says, at the moment I lean towards Klinger being able to return to Toledo), but Hawkeye may never be able to Really return to Crabapple Cove (because his wounds are too great, and therefore his world will never be small and safe again)
