no actually what I would like to ask alan alda and/or mike farrell about (or loretta swit or jamie farr, if they’d have any opinions on it, but I haven’t yet delved quite so deeply into how they interact with the show post-making) is the references to transsexuality/transvestitism, as something that was made about 50 years ago writing it as in the public knowledge in some form or other/to one extent or another 70 years ago
(and here is where we take an interlude to mention that glen or glenda was made in 1953, so right around the same time as this show is set)
I’m curious about how commonly occurring it was that they had sidney offer it as an out to klinger in s2 (albeit with consequences, because it would be on his record), I’m curious about radar of all characters from the middle of nowhere understanding its existence, although with the small-town attitude that comes with it, and I’m especially curious about inga offering klinger gender affirming surgery
jokes of course, but none of them age badly when looking at them head-on either (perhaps the part that ages slightly worse is how klinger reacts when assumed trans, but even that makes sense for the time it’s set in, regardless of how one reads klinger’s gender)
and I don’t think necessarily that these musings can be turned into an easily answerable question + the person to really talk to would presumably be walter dishell (whose rundown videos on youtube I still need to watch), but what I’m wondering broadly about is a bit how the characters-as-medical-professionals would have been aware, a bit how the non-medical-characters would have been aware, a bit how the writers and cast would have been aware, and a bit of how the audience would have been aware -- these reference don’t exist in a vacuum after all
one of the things one is constantly facing is this absurd notion that “people” (as a vague whole) have never been aware of transness until the 21st century, or even that transness didn’t exist properly until the 21st century, and while there is plenty to show that this is simply incorrect -- texts, academia, personal anecdotes, oral histories, movies, popular music, art, etcetc. -- especially coming from inside the community, it’s interesting (and heartening) to see it mentioned several times in one of the most popular shows ever made in America, also considering the time period the show is set in
maybe “question” is incorrect. would like to have a conversation about it, whether or not there was any real intentionality in it (and tbh if there wasn’t -- as I suspect there may not have been, beyond the simple fact that it existed -- I don’t consider that a negative, because that’s simply another fascinating inclusion of note that was done simply Because. that is still a rarity in film and tv made by and for cis people, especially film and tv with the reach that MASH had)
I think teasing out these bits and pieces about marginalised people would be an interesting conversation to have with the people who were involved in the making of it (especially alan, as he wrote and directed inga), to gain another little puzzle piece about how trans people have existed throughout time
also, youknow. getting all of the above to say trans rights would be neat
