Tooty Fruity at Mount Doom

Possibly taking a cue from the controversial film "Brokeback Mountain," marketers at the cable network TBS are broadcasting a promotion for this weekend's showing of two "Lord of the Rings" films that suggests characters Sam and Frodo are homosexual lovers.

The Internet is abuzz with talk about the video, which shows short clips of the two interacting over the playing of Atlantic Starr's '80s song "Secret Lovers."

"Are Sam and Frodo a little more than friends? Not that there's anything wrong with that," states the TBS webpage leading to several video promotions of the "Rings" features.

The clip has the two hobbits casting pleasant glances at one another in various scenes, including one in which Frodo declares to Sam, "I'm glad you're with me."

Jokes don't bother me; I enjoy a good jest. But if you seriously believe Frodo and Sam were light in the loafers, all I can say is you haven't read the books. There is not the slightest indication in The Lord of the Rings that they were homosexuals. Not one breathless utterance of the word "fabulous!" when Sam saw and admired Frodo's new hiking shoes. Not one suggestion that Frodo wear matching earrings with the One Ring. Not one bathhouse visit in Hobbiton or Bree.

Among other things, the story is about lifelong friendship and the sacrifices this sometimes entails. Given the rampant promiscuity of the average homosexual, I don't expect them to have an inkling of an idea about such fast relationships. Do we now live in a world in which two men cannot be good friends without having aspersions cast upon them?

Two final points of interest:

It's funny how we are told, time and again, that homosexuality is wonderful, perfectly normal, and a legitimate lifestyle alternative. The very networks, production companies, and individuals who champion this notion then come along and use homosexuality as a belittlement of people, as a means of degrading them. Pretty bizarre, no?

Also, I don't find it coincidental that such besmirchment is leveled at a literary work written by a man who was a Christian.