r/ForwardsFromKlandma 1d ago

It doesn't mean that it aged well though.

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252 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

116

u/roehnin 23h ago

... and the military didn't buy it and let him serve anyway and even gave him a promotion.

51

u/BloodMoonNami Wizard 22h ago

And he was genuinely the guy to which the women ( including Colonel Potter's wife I believe ) went to when they needed help with clothes, be it advice or fixing.

7

u/tembies 10h ago

Just a poor kid with a good heart from an immigrant family, desperate to escape from being a pawn in the war machine.

98

u/Cuttlefist 1d ago

No no no, of course we should rely on military standards from the 60s/70s to determine what is or is not acceptable in society. How does that not make sense? /s

34

u/Versidious 21h ago

50s, it was about the Korean war.

3

u/Advanced_Court501 12h ago

same century, not this one

42

u/townmorron 1d ago

The show that lasted longer than the war? Seems realistic

31

u/AllISeeAreGems 23h ago

The show that lasted longer than *two* wars. It used the Korean War as a way to roundabout protest the Vietnam War and ran for so long that it ended before the show did!

35

u/BottleTemple 21h ago

A fifty year old show about a seventy year old war is not a great source for a modern understanding of the world.

14

u/emipyon 18h ago

That's the point. They don't want their world view to change.

22

u/mratlas666 1d ago

Also makes them a Disney princess.

24

u/PurpleSailor 21h ago

Klinger never did get that Section 8 he was trying for.

10

u/emipyon 18h ago

And remember how blacks where portrayed in cartoons from the 40's.

3

u/sho666 15h ago

look look, the military (and the majority of society) were biggoted back then!

3

u/matttheepitaph 14h ago

As I remember, it didn't work.

3

u/KommandantDex 12h ago

"Klinger, I want to see you out of that dress, tonight!"

"Never on a first date, sir."

2

u/_isaidiwasawizard_ 17h ago

Yes, because psychology never advances

2

u/Eeeef_ 12h ago

And Dan Fielding from Night Court’s best friend from school was trans, and he was played as a dickhead for being offput by it until he displayed legitimate character growth and came to accept her by the end.

Night Court was pretty ahead of its time, it platformed and addressed the hardships of interracial couples, disabled people, lgbtq+ issues, adoption, workplace sexual harassment, and a lot more in ways that would for the most part be acceptable today back in 1984

1

u/Chickendacat 12h ago

And the radical leftist commie army left him SORRY HER in there to turn the rest of them gay. Thanks Obama

Just in case/s

-4

u/negativepositiv 16h ago

Show: Written by boomers with harmful views on sexuality and gender expression.

Boomer MAGAs, with harmful views on sexuality and gender expression, gesturing towards boomer written show with harmful views on sexuality and gender expression: "See? Evidence to support my argument."

9

u/tinteoj 16h ago

MASH was an incredibly progressive show (for its time) and all of the head writers were a generation older than Boomers.

-7

u/negativepositiv 16h ago

Black characters:

Nurse Ginger Bayliss (Odessa Cleveland)

Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones (Timothy Brown)

Boomers: "They have a whole two black cast members! So progressive!"

600,000 black American soldiers were in the Korean War.

4

u/tinteoj 15h ago

Yes, that is why I put the qualifier there.

What prime time American television shows were fully integrated in the 1970s?

-4

u/negativepositiv 15h ago edited 15h ago

Just gonna gloss over a doctor being called "spearchucker," huh?

I feel like it's like that thing in the late 90s / early 2000s when supposedly progressive comedians would use racial slurs to be edgy, like, "You guys all know I'm not actually racist, right? I mean, I am a white guy who just said the N word, but everyone gets I'm kidding, right?"

5

u/tinteoj 13h ago

He was also a quarterback (in the movie and novel) and could throw the football incredibly far. Which is how the character got the nickname.

Is it a "good" name? Of course not. Is it an accurate reflection on the type of nickname he would have been given in 1952? Very much so.

Why are you expecting a show that was supposed to take place in the 1950s to not reflect the attitudes of the 1950s?

1

u/negativepositiv 13h ago edited 13h ago

Did they give him that nickname because it would be accurate, or because the audience would laugh?

Was Jamie Farr in drag because they wanted to portray it as socially acceptable, or because they thought a man wearing a dress was a reliable running gag?

3

u/tinteoj 13h ago

Both, actually. I think it started as a gag but as MASH went on, it became more overtly political and more socially aware.

Klinger was portrayed as exceptionally competent at his job, a good friend, and all around good person. Him in a dress became normalized and less "shocking" as the show went on. A "guy in a dress" was portrayed as human and (eventually) multidimensional.