To all the young Millenials about to watch M*A*S*H for the first time, do not be turned off by Max Klinger being a guy in a dress.
For those of you unaware, the character tries several schemes to get out of the army on the grounds of being mentally unfit for service, most notably being a man who wears a dress, which no one buys. It’s played off as a joke but everyone loves him and treats him very respectfully unless it’s a character you’re not supposed to sympathise with.
You might want to call bull on the fact that they’re getting a cheap joke at a man in a dress. But, this man in a dress had a gender identity crisis ON SCREEN (although they couldn’t call it that) and also helped pave the way to allow transgender people into the armed forces.
No, seriously. A congressman who was a fan of the show brought up how Max Klinger cross dressing never was an issue at this M*A*S*H unit and it allowed transgender people to serve in the armed forces!
I’m a trans(masc) millenial and the biggest thing I feel was made fun of was how much some people were bothered by Klinger’s clothes, not the fact that he’s wearing them.
Klinger learns a lot about fashion and sewing and seems to develop a genuine passion for it over time.
There’s even one time when he develops a psychosomantic (spelling?) rash during a short time when he has to wear his uniform. Even after it is clear that he’s not gonna get to go home by wearing dresses, he continues - suggesting either a persistent act of defiance to make him feel better, or a real appreciation of the clothes… or both!
He’s clearly coded as straight, is accepted by his peers, and his character arc and development is barely focused on his clothes (rather it focuses on what he wants to do with his life; his dream future).
For a show made in the 70’s depicting the 50’s, M*A*S*H was a show before its time - with feminist messages and anti-war messages, as well as speking out against homophobia and racism - and Klinger was a groundbreaking character.
This is especially true, I think, if you watch the episodes sans the laugh track. Without the canned laughter, Klinger’s costuming comes off as especially sincere.
Klinger is a good man and a great character and everyone in the camp respects him (and if they don’t, it’s not because of his attire).
The discovery that you can select “English Without Laugh Track” as an audio track has made the DVDs wonderful.
YOU CAN TURN OFF THE LAFF TRACK?? YES PLEASE!!
Klinger is the best!
When I was a little girl I legit loved Klinger and his gorgeous dresses and skirts, and nothing about him seemed strange or abnormal to me; I understood that he’d wanted a section 8 initially but it also seemed really clear to me that in that process he’d found himself, in whatever sense was important to him, and everyone accepted him in the unit. To me growing up in a completely queerphobic household/culture, he was a figure of great love and joy and positivity, and I embraced him unquestioningly and gratefully.
Bonus: Klinger also comes from a family of immigrants.
Like the cross-dressing, the jokes about it are sometimes a little borderline for today’s audiences. But Klinger’s cultural identity was mentioned constantly, and consistently shown as something that he was very proud of.
There was even an episode where all the M*A*S*H peoples’ families were planning a get-together in the states, and everyone worked especially hard to make sure that Klinger’s parents - who didn’t speak any English - were welcomed and included.
(Including this picture again for the caption over at Imgur - ‘M*A*S*H is owned by Fox. Fox is now owned by Disney. Klinger is now a Disney princess.’)
Abusive men pave the way for lazy men to get wives and girlfirends.
Lemme clarify, how many times have you heard your overworked female friends and relatives say “Yeah, Jerry drinks beer every evening after work while I cook dinner and clean up after everyone and does the bare minimum to help me raise the kids but he’s such a nice guy. He’s never beat me in my life. I couldn’t ask for a better guy in my life.”
Like no, Sally, your husband is a common stone among turds and you know it.
I try to explain this conceptually to people as a thing that happens not saying that this is good but it’s a thing that happens.
This is what male privilege is and how all men benefit from it.
This is why you are not exempt from statements about “all men” even if you are overall good.
You benefit from the bar constantly being lowered by systemic issues within the gender.
The expectations on you are always lower than they should because “at least you’re not X”.
That…is the best response I’ve seen to the “not all men” thing. Thank you.
“a common stone among turds” is a beautiful phrase. thank you for it.
most cursed convo i’ve ever had in college with a straight man was him asking me why “girls are so obsessed with drinking water” then telling me “you only need to drink like a glass a day.” all this coming from a man who seemed to inhale mountain dew and bragged about never having eaten a salad.
i know a girl who dated him and he wouldn’t use chapstick even after she bought him one, refused to eat anything she cooked for him that he deemed “too healthy” (because obviously everything healthy is both flavorless and effeminate,) he couldn’t cook for himself and refused to learn so he lived off ready meals, he didn’t do laundry properly so his clothes were always musty, he got mad when she suggested they clean his filthy apartment together, didn’t think forgetting deodorant in the morning was a big deal, he wouldn’t moisturize even though we live in a very dry climate and not doing so often leads to irritated/greasy skin, and he thought girls were ridiculous for using seperate cleansing products instead of a 3-1 body wash like him
The thing is it’s not like this girl just came in and complained about how this 26 yr old man refused to care for himself (even though that would have been a valid reaction.) Instead, while she was dating him, I saw her gently try to improve his life and teach him the skills he was missing and he just refused. When his laundry kept smelling musty because he left it wet in the washing machine too long she suggested setting a reminder on his phone. He did this, but continued to not get off his ass from playing videos games or being on his phone to put it in the dryer. In fact, he purposely started doing his laundry while she was around so that he could ask her to move it to the dryer or even do all of it herself.
When it came to cooking he made it clear he preferred having his meals fresh instead of his usual ready made meals (although he only began trying the food she prepared for him after she started cooking meals like he was a picky toddler who needed to be tricked into eating healthy.) However, he refused to learn how to cook. He wouldn’t even hang out with his gf on days she was meal prepping for her week although she repeatedly invited him to join her. Instead he just whined at her to come cook dinner for him at his place a few times a week or would ask her to bring her leftovers over for him.
When they first started dating she cleaned his whole apartment because he claimed he was too depressed to do it. After that she drew on her own experiences with depression to suggest he maybe set a chore chart for himself to complete one easy cleaning task a day so that it wouldn’t pile up to the point it was overwhelming again. He hung the chart she helped him draw up on the wall and never touched it again. When his apartment went back to being slobby she suggested he see a therapist, even offered to help him find one. He refused and suggested she clean his place if it bothered her so much.
When it came to personal hygiene he wouldn’t hear any criticism. His gf offered to help him find face wash and moisturizer to match his skin type because he had problems with dry patches. She offered to help him find shampoo/conditioner for his hair type when she noticed he had problems with his hair and scalp being dry. She bought him chapstick because his lips would crack. She nicely reminded him to put on deodorant when they went out. All of this he treated like ridiculous feminine fussing. He basically just used her for labor until she left him and did everything he could to manipulate her into caring for him while they were together while doing nothing in return.
what my parents told me: you can do anything if you set your mind to it
what I wish my parents had told me: sometimes you will fail, and it will be scary and it will suck, but you will probably not die
I would also have appreciated: the fact that you can do something if you try very, very hard, does not actually obligate you to spend your life putting forth maximum effort to achieve it. It is okay to not be 1000% driven by life-consuming ambition and instead be satisfied with something less difficult.
So anyway I saw Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) yesterday and I liked it a lot. It made me emotional, I was mouthing along to the songs, Rami malek is fucking wonderful. Queens a big BIG thing in my family and so I know that there were some historical inaccuracies but honestly? It was a fun, inspiring portrayal of an amazing man. Its well shot, the actors are great. Maybe the dialogue gets clunky but it’s still good.
And then I see that it’s only got 50 odd percent on Rotten Tomatoes which, whatever, critics suck. THEN I read a review to see what everyone’s mad about and let me tell you I am fuming.
I read an economist article that worried that stopping other biopic in 1985 “might prevent an excellent performance from being a prize-winning one, of the sort that earned Oscars for Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia” (1993) and Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013).”
What. The. fuck. One of my favourite things about this film is that it didn’t show the horrible, pain-porn, graceful and yet horrific decline into aids that every other film about queer men in the 80’s milks out. The LGBT community knows about the aids crisis. Everyone knows that Freddie died of AIDS related illnesses. I’m so fucking sick of gay tragedies.
I loved this film because instead of being a glorification of his death it was a celebration of his life. You want to know when Freddie Mercury informed the public he had AIDS? The day before he died. He didn’t want to be a poster boy, a spectacle. He was a person outside of his illness.
Queer people don’t exist to die peacefully on your screen, leaving you with a hopeful majestic quote about how really everything’s going to be a alright. Growing up gay I truly thought I wouldn’t be able to be happy. Why? Because in every portrayal of a queer character they either died horribly or died alone.
So yes. I like this film. I like having a film about a queer person that focused on their life instead of their death
