As a nation reevaluates Atticus Finch – a purported hero in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and revealed to be a racist in the sequel Go Set a Watchman – we should take a closer look at Frank Burns. While binge-playing M*A*S*H in our household, familiar sitcom dialog from childhood coming to the fore, it occurred to me: what if Hawkeye is meant to be an unreliable narrator, unfairly maligning Major Frank Burns?
Think of it: Burns wants order and protocol to be followed in a dangerous wartime environment. Chain of command is essential to reliable operation. Safety is essential in a hospital. Emergency life & death issues emerge on a regular basis. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce is an agent of disruption with deep contempt for authority. Yet the story of M*A*S*H centers on Pierce. The camera angles in The Swamp tent always favor Pierce, not Burns. Through Pierce’s eyes, Burns is reliably the ninny and appeaser to those in authority.
Consider a couple things:
- There is only one prominent female in the entire M*A*S*H cast for its full run, Major Margaret Houlihan. She is a woman in power, outranking Pierce and his sidekick-of-the-day, whether Trapper John or B.J. Yet, save for the last few seasons, Pierce and his toadies regularly hold the powerful, self-assured Houlihan in deep contempt. Burns manages a longterm relationship with her for many years.
- Pierce and Trapper John had a black tentmate the first season. A doctor, just like them. They called him “Spearchucker”.
2 comments
I could hardly see how any of that is valid. Besides, that picture Frank is in is one of him braking protocol. He only follows it when it suits his needs. Clinically speaking Frank qualifies as a sociopath, not to mention he associates him self with Col. Flagg who is the agent of chaos.
Aside from anything else, Frank was clearly the funniest character in that crew. After Frank and Trapper and Henry left , Mash totally sucked and in my opinion ran many years too long. It was painful to say the least. By that time Alda totally wore out his welcome and his lame worn out one liners were wearing thin and Mike Farrel should have stuck to being a Roto Rooter man or whatever it was that he did before he decided to become an actor.