SUBTEXT: Irony as Anesthetic in Robert Altman’s “M.A.S.H” (1970) | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog (opens in new tab)

It begins with the “stupidest song ever written,” as Robert Altman called it, and ends with a self-referential jab at the very idea of finding comic relief in the tragedy of war. But it is equally unserious, the film “M.A.S.H” seem to suggest, to take seriously the authority of war-making institutions, and their pretense to putting violence in service of an ideal. And so morality succumbs to mockery, love to hedonism, and military rank to the form of authority immanent in the power to save li...