The television show M*A*S*H was a broadcast phenomenon in the 1970s. It was based upon characters from the movie of the same name but both were derived from an original book about the Korean War.
Rising from the obscure beginnings of the weekly television show was a relatively unknown actor, Alan Alda. Some of the older readers may know of his father, Robert Alda, who had been a film star in the black-and-white era of movies decades before. Alan’s dad was often the hero in those films, but Alan’s role in M*A*S*H was more like a conscientious objector who reluctantly goes to war. He plays a surgeon who participates only because he knows he can save people with his skills and talents, but he doesn’t believe in being there. His manner is gentle, and often in scenes with nurses—despite his being portrayed as a womanizer—he supplies a listening ear and a kind, enlightened approach to the opposite sex.
From Hawkeye To Wiseguy
Alda’s character, Hawkeye, blended with the Jimmy Carter presidency and some of the leftover “make love, not war” sentiment of the 1960s. The result was the emergence of a new kind of man. A soft-spoken, willing-to-listen, open-minded guy who wasn’t quick to judge, who didn’t ignore the wife by reading the sports page at the breakfast table, etc. The new man was focused on equality for all people, especially women. Suddenly, New Age philosophy and self-help books were being published. Men were writing poetry filled with pent-up emotions, and the old, stodgy rule-oriented “man” image was going through a substantial makeover. The most chauvinistic television character ever invented—Archie Bunker—came out of this era. The All in the Family father and husband made one racist, bigoted claim after another, but he was positioned as the fool. His ignorance makes buffoons of those who have held onto diminishing points of view. Archie often asks other friends and men on the show if they are one of “them women’s libbers.” The dumber he looks, the more empowered women’s equality became; it was truly a cultural phenomenon. Many of my grandfather’s aging friends, whom I overheard talking at the barber shop, thought Archie was brilliant. They held him up as a man’s man, who should be a “write-in” presidential candidate. The sarcasm of the show blew right by them. In any event, Archie was the “anti-Hawkeye,” but the message was the same—the blind and ignorant chauvinistic male has no place in American society.