![]() ![]() Now Gollum is genuinely concerned for Frodo, because he knows from first-hand experience how deadly Mordor can be: he has suffered unspeakable torture inside. So now that he’s come to the front door of Mordor he can only perceive its inhabitants as monsters - even the men, whose eyes are “slanted” so as to appear Asian. He’s been duped into destroying a worthless ring by Gandalf, Elrond, and Galadriel, who have poisoned his mind with litanies of racial hate. Notice how Frodo really has no idea what he’s doing, and that he’s too paralyzed by xenophobic cowardice to make a responsible decision in any case. ![]() First it was black riders on black horses now it’s a black gate. Anything from an unknown culture is invariably black. We’re right back to fear - fearing the other. Nobody wants to accept Gollum for who he is, but Frodo goes out of his way to reinforce the creature’s self-hate by implicitly mocking him. It’s obvious that he’s making fun of him - making him feel ashamed of the creature he’s now become. This next scene really makes me mad, where Frodo taunts Gollum with his real name, “Smeagol”. Gollum rescues Frodo - showing far more decency than either hobbit has shown him - and so we’re again forced to ask why he is supposedly so bad. And despite this, it is Frodo who incompetently falls in! So there is at least some poetic justice in this world. Let him take a plunge down to those horrible spectres. Gollum’s neck is on the line as he leads the hobbits through the Dead Marshes. Should we be surprised when Gollum later tries engineering the death of the hobbits anymore than by the shootings at Columbine High School? It’s analogous to a teen-ager who has been continually bullied by his peers and scorned by his parents and teachers. He has been abused and mistreated everywhere and by everyone - Sauron, the wood-elves, Aragorn, Gandalf, and now the hobbits. Gollum lives in a perpetual state of terror, much like an abused wife, never knowing when Sam will lash out at him. Notice how Gollum cringes in front of Sam like a whipped dog, calling him a “nice hobbit”. While Sam is openly sadistic, Frodo secretly revels in sadism until it conflicts with his own needs.Ĭut now to the Dead Marshes, where Frodo and Sam continue their shameless exploitation and terrorization of Gollum. Someone of genuine pity would not have permitted a starving and emaciated creature to be choked and dragged over the ground to begin with! Frodo is actually worse than Sam, because his evil is cunning and veiled. And notice how Frodo’s outward display of “pity” is a facade which masks his true motive for removing the rope, as he suddenly realizes he can exploit Gollum as a guide to Mordor. So all of Galadriel’s gifts are instruments of violence, even a rope, which goes a long way toward dispelling the myth of elves as peace-loving people. This is Samwise the Sadist, pure and simple - choking Gollum, yanking him through rock and dirt, thoroughly indifferent to his screams of agony. Now we have this outrageous spectacle which lays bare the propaganda surrounding “Samwise the Brave”. It’s all below-the-belt and very typical of hobbits. Look at this cat-fight - all three of them grabbing, biting, kicking each other. Bilbo stole his ring, and Frodo has no more legitimate claim to it than his uncle ever did. Now Gollum rightfully curses them as “thieves”. As we proceed through this commentary, it will become abundantly plain that Frodo and Sam are vicious cowards - a far cry from the heroes they’re usually made out to be. Frodo and Sam, of course, are engaged in their own sleazy tactic of feigning slumber, so as to surprise Gollum in turn. It’s important to remember that Gollum was once a hobbit, and that backbiting is a favored tactic of this race (recall Merry and Pippin leaping onto the back of the cave-troll and stabbing it from behind). We begin at the feet of Emyn Muil, where Gollum is getting ready to pounce on the sleeping hobbits. Don’t read this if you’re easily offended - or if Zinn, Chomsky, and Said are precious to you.Īudio-commentary for The Two Towers & The Return of the King: I follow the story of Frodo and Sam in the next two films, and, likewise, with all the politically-correct sanctimony I can muster. I wrote this audio commentary in March 2004, inspired by a similar spoof written by Jeff Alexander and Tom Bissell for The Fellowship of the Ring. ![]()
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