Milk, in addition to doing the body good, is widely understood as being a perfectly fine drink for children but an odd choice for anyone over the age of 18. A child drinking a large glass of milk before bed is Rockwellian in its quaintness. But a grown man slapping a milk mustache on top of his already existing mustache is one degree shy of an Amber Alert.
In a new video essay titled “Milk In Movies: Why Do Characters Drink It?” Jack Nugent (@SwagThug4Lyfe) of the Now You See It YouTube channel explores the use of milk in film, specifically how it can be used to represent innocence or creepiness depending on the context. A likable character on the verge of adulthood may drink milk in order to show their struggle with maturity. Alternatively, a villain may down a glass of 2-percent to represent their consumption of all that is innocent in the world. And though there isn’t an example of this in the video, we can assume drinking strawberry milk means your character is a straight-up psychopath.
In addition to all this milk talk, Nugent offers an interesting analysis of the role various fluids play in Mad Max: Fury Road. If you can control your gag reflex long enough, it’s worth examining how important blood and breast milk are to the survival of the film’s wasteland-dwelling characters.