This is...

Jen you saved me, I thought I was crazy. At least three different times in the two LOTR films I thought Samwise was going to throw his tongue down Frodo's throat. There's definitely some man love going on there.

this is...

So frickin hilarious.

come one people. just because two guys are close and maybe even love each other doesnt make them gay... this kind of internalized homophobia is far beneath the gothamist... i am a little dissapointed. Is it more acceptable for two gay men to love each other than it is for two straight men?

You all are missing the point here.

In times of great war and conflict, when men have been thrown together to battle evil at enormous odds, there are no women around to show emotion with when small and great victories are won, and loss of life near to you cause grief and sadness beyond anything that we would ever understand.

Tolkien wrote this series based on the great World War (WWI at that time) and was in the British military when he started the LOTR. When you go through war, I don't care who you are, you're bound to face enormous swings of emotions that it's hard for him to write about anything else except for the love and goodness of man to his fellow man in the fight against all that is evil.

So some of the scenes in Peter Jackson's film come off as "ambiguously gay". If you were Frodo and your friend was Sam and you both went through what these 2 characters went through, you'd be hugging each other affectionately by now too after all was said and done.

Now Merry & Pippen...there's 2 obviously gay characters. :P

They're definately in love. At least, I think Sam is very purely caring for Frodo though he loves Rosie as well. Frodo, by today's labels, is gay in my opinion. And that's fine with me. In fact, I am very pleased with the fact that two characters share a somewhat homoerotic relationship in a very popular and well-recieved film. I beleive that Frodo eventually came to realize that he felt both a romantic and a sexual attraction for Sam...he left at the end, probably partially because he wanted his "dear Sam" to be happy. Now that's true love.

I think it's a good thing that the relationship was portrayed in an honest, if not a little watered down, light on the big screen. I try to keep an opened mind, and I hope more viewers will too.

In the cast commentary of Fellowship, there's the point where Frodo wakes up in Rivendell and Sam runs in to greet him and they hold hands. Ian McKellen, rightly so, indicates that this IS in the book and should be represented in the film. Sean Astin said he didn't have a problem with that and they did it, and later he received a letter from a fan that was deeply touched by the bond of friendship that simple act displayed.

And besides, your best friend is lying there on the side of a volcano, burned and scarred both physicaly and mentaly, literally carrying the weight of the world around their neck, fear overwhelming them. What would you do? Stand there like a dolt or hold your friend close and utter reassurance? Exactly. Personally I thought it was a very powerful moment and Astin carries it incredibly well, defining the very reason Sam is there.

The relationship in the end defies definition, and I think that's what bugs most people who want to classify it, and what is most magical about it. It certainly isn't "That was a good football game on Sunday!" kind of stand-offish relationship that is so common between straight men these days. Since it isn't, those people knee jerk it to mean they're bed-buddies. The fact is we don't know, and I think that is the magic of these two characters. The relationship is what you want it to be.

If you want it to be SLASH, well...there are indicators of that (Frodo never having married, Sam wanting to leave with Frodo for the west in the book, the double entendre in the book about Sam being torn in two and needing to be one so Frodo leaves (an act of true love as Shinji said a few messages back)).

If you want it to be innocent, there are indicators of that too(Sam simply keeping his promise to Gandalf and his friend).

Tolkien's books never struck me as reflecting gay themes (though the Silmarillion hints about a some warriors who never married), but the third movie of the trilogy sure seems to project some gayness. Besides the way Frodo & Sam were presented, Merry & Pippen seemed to be extremely attached. Legolas & Gimli. Those pairings were filmed in a way that I don't think Tolkien envisaged, and thereby came out reflecting a more intimate level of bonding (and I imagine this was intentional on the director's part?) One final note: In Tolkien's appendix to RoTK, after the eventual death of his wife Rosie, Sam, then 102 years old, is said to have gone to the Gray Havens and passed over the sea. Only after seeing the movie do I think of that as reflecting a very deep - undying - love for Frodo by Sam.

Though I never got to finish the finl part of the trilogy, I never exactly felt the closeness of many of the characters that the movie portrayed, though, I find I enjoyed the movies much more. I feel that there could easily have been some kind of love between Samwise and Frodo that could have gone beyond friendship, and that was left for the public to decide for itself. I also agree with an above statment about Pippin and Merry, in that there could also have possibly been a closer relationship there. Yet, I must disagree with the Legolas/Gimli. These chracters only jut seemed to allow their fondness, or friendship, to be spoken aloud later on in RotK. Yet, to each his own. And I believe that this movie was reated in that sense.

Some nut case saw a little affection there and we are arguing for no reason . They are NOT gay. Friends can look each over like that without supposed “love” implications. Especially when they have hard times.