Pynchon - a product of his times redux

[LBernier at tribune.com]

     Hey all - I was watching M*A*S*H (the Robert Altman movie, not the TV 
     show) over this past weekend, and I couldn't help but think of the 
     recent discussion over whether Pynchon was writing under the 
     prejudices of his time, re: homosexuality, misogyny, racism, etc.  My 
     conclusion was, that yes, he was.  M*A*S*H could never be made today.  
     Why?  Well, let's see, you've got WAY too much boozing, pot-smoking 
     and unclean living, the nurses are only there to be chased around and 
     otherwise harassed by the doctors, the only black character in the 
     movie is nicknamed "Spearchucker" and goddamn if it doesn't commit the 
     ultimate sin in the eyes of America, it actually corrupts the 
     god-given game of football into a stoned, cheating travesty!!
     
     Most of which is meant ironically (the Spearchucker gag, and the 
     absolute brilliance of using a football game to send up the war 
     complex) but the sexism and the pat response to homosexuality (they 
     have a nurse "do" the guy whose going to off himself because he's gay, 
     and, hey, presto, he's cured!) are real, and are IMHO most definitely 
     reflections of the prevailing attitude at the time, even among the 
     couterculture.  I'm not sure that the 60's generation (help me out, ye 
     p-listers of a certain age) would have really identified it AS sexism, 
     since they were too busy freeing mankind THROUGH sex to question 
     gender roles as such, except for those artsy-fartsies hanging out in 
     Manhattan with Edie and Andy.  The 60's attitude seems to be a great 
     grok on the fact that the women could actually now RESPOND to the 
     men's leering overtures and slap and tickle fantasies with their own 
     lusty libidos.  It wasn't until the 70's, with the rise of modern 
     feminism, that that behavior was identified with oppressiveness viz a 
     viz the objectification of women.
     
     Just some thoughts.
     
     Jean.