The aesthetics of evil are broad-reaching, with a myriad of options that all help portray the villainy of their characters and their unbecoming endeavors. Being suited head-to-toe in all black helps signify a darkness in one’s soul, see Darth Vader literally and figuratively representing the dark side with their garb. Bearing featureless facial expressions like Norman Bates can elicit discomfort in audiences, but so too can the unhinged and clown-like faces of the Joker and Pennywise. Villains don’t have to be Cruella de Vil, in a coat made of dog fur, in order to convey their malevolent nature. Nothing is sacred from being distorted and twisted into something villainous, and audiences have to look no further than the milk becoming the drink of choice for some of the most heinous villains seen on screen.
‘Milk is the drink of villains?’ you might ask yourself, incredulous that Oreo’s best friend has become an object associated with evil. “Got Milk?” was one of the most successfully distributed widespread ad programs, featuring A-listers with milk mustaches in an eager promotion of the calcium-rich beverage, citing its health benefits and importance to development. Yet, years after the campaign’s conclusion in an era where dairy alternatives are as essential as the beverage they are replacing, milk has lost its untouchable reputation. Instead of Hollywood icons, the image of milk is now associated with villainy, from psychopathic supervillains to manipulative racists. So, what happened, and why has milk become so sinister?
RELATED: The Best Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now
Which Villains Got Milk?
Admittedly, Vader seems an unlikely candidate for an avid milk drinker—so which media antagonists are consuming so much dairy these days? The leading spokespeople are Homelander (Antony Starr) from The Boys and Rose (Allison Williams) from Get Out, two antagonists so wildly different that their passion for milk is seemingly their strongest connection.
Rose, the sociopathic, lying, racist girlfriend from Jordan Peele’sGet Out has become infamous for eating cereal in one of the most unnerving and unusual ways. The “Froot Loops Scene”, as it has been referred to on the internet, features Rose eating singular, dry pieces of the aforementioned cereal before washing it down with a tall glass of milk. In a vacuum, that’s not the most ominous of food consumption, regardless of your opinions on whether milk is poured before or after cereal (it’s after). However, zoom out a little bit and everything else going on just enhances the sinister nature of the whole scene. As she picks at her Fruit Loops, Rose browses on Bing (another giveaway that she’s crazy) in search of “Top NCAA prospects,” searching for another unwitting victim whose body and life her family would steal from under them.
There’s more than just one scene to point to when talking about Homelander’s obsession with milk. In the first season, he was seen in a Freudian/Oedipal relationship with Madelyn Stillwell, who cradled his head in her lap in an imitation of breastfeeding. In season 2 his obsession continues as he is shown to drink a bottle of Stillwell’s actual breast milk, even after being the one to kill her at the end of last season. This most recent season even showed Homelander, unhinged and further cracking at the seams, milking a cow with a pseudosexual expression on his face before drinking his spoils straight from the bucket. Regardless of superpowers or not, these two characters find common ground in their deep love for milk.
Villains Drinking Milk Is a Distortion of Safe Childhood Memories
Milk hasn’t become a more sinister object just because villains are shown to be drinking it. The main reason the connotation around the beverage has evolved is because of how these scenes and characters create distortions of safe, childhood memories. By taking an idea that is meant to be nostalgic and twisting it into something unsafe, it creates a discomfort that is harder to separate from. Most people naturally associate milk with childhood memories, whether it be of cereal in the morning or the “Got Milk” ads all over school. But in the scenes mentioned above, there is nothing kind or comfortable about them.
Homelander’s obsession with milk has distinct sexual undertones which, when paired with his sadistic and the constant threat of his complete psychological breakdown, makes these moments tense and unnerving. Likewise, Rose is depicted drinking this milk in eager enjoyment while planning her next abduction—all while her latest victim is attempting to flee from her family just a floor below her. These aren’t quick breakfasts before class, these are villains being indulgent without compromising any of their threat. In fact, their satisfaction with these drinks only further emphasizes just how dangerous they are.
Unnerving Milk Drinking Has Been Used for Decades
The choice to distort ideas of childhood to generate fear is nothing new. Just take a cursory look at Chucky and how a kid’s doll has essentially become one of the scariest things ever put on screen. This creative tool has also been applied to milk, even decades before the “Got Milk” ads.
In Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, milk has also become a symbol associated with vice and villainy. Alex (Malcolm McDowell), the lead character of the film, was a youthful leader of other juvenile delinquents. They eagerly participate in “ultra-violence,” committing heinous acts on bystanders that range from petty crime to intense, brutal assault. Their drink of choice before embarking on their night of violent hedonism? Milk—although it’s not just straight from a carton, but an intoxicating amalgamation of drugs and dairy called “milk-plus.”
Milk Represents Emotional Stuntedness and Traumatic Childhoods
There’s a through line between these villains that makes the subversion of childhood imagery into something so dark and twisted. The malformation of youthful imagery reflects the brokenness within each of these characters that is rooted in childhood trauma and emotional stuntedness.
Williams and Peele had seen Rose as something of “an emotionally stunted woman with the mentality of a teenager,” hence the choice to have her drink milk in such a sinister fashion. It reflected her return to her natural state, a "twisted girl" who is equally a part of her racist family. Homelander is perhaps one of the greatest case studies in Freud and Oedipus with his uncomfortable relationship with mother figures and his own tragically inhumane childhood. He was essentially manufactured to be a patriotic image of heroism but was never successfully raised to be a person with morals and values.
Alex is a young gang leader and representative of the extremes of juvenile delinquency. But more than that, he is a product of a society that has allowed its youth to become so disillusioned and hedonistic. The Korova milk bar where he and his “droogs” let loose is decorated with nude, human-shaped furniture posed in uncomfortable and sexual arrangements. It’s a place for vice and gluttony, perfectly equipped for the tainting of youth.
Each of these characters has storylines and trauma rooted in childhood, making their dependence and fascination with milk more significant than just a preference for its calcium content. These characters, in their own damaged ways, have been so emotionally stunted that a core part of their being remains childlike. But the pain that damaged them to that plateau is likewise the reason there is no youthful glee in their personalities, it’s all hurt and brokenness.
There Are More Negative Associations with Milk
The sinister nature of milk has evolved beyond illustrations of adolescent anguish, seen in Rose and Homelander as well. In addition to their troubled childhoods (and a major reason for the dysfunction of their development), racist ideologies were intrinsically tied to their upbringing. Ranging from implicit to explicit beliefs, both characters have pushed agendas of white superiority and racism. Rose and her family were literally kidnapping and, essentially, killing Black people for their selfish goals. Homelander is meant to be the representation of the might and strength of the United States but is also simultaneously an encapsulation of many of the flaws and shortcomings of the country. He also literally dated a Nazi.
Get Out and The Boys were both released at a time when warring political ideologies were at the forefront of everyone's minds. Their lack of fear in addressing real-life issues is a major reason for their critical and commercial success but has also contributed to the change in milk's reputation. Art and life continue to dance around each other, as the connection between milk and racism has reached reality as well. While the beverage itself is not despicable, it has become an icon that can connect themes from troubled childhoods to racism and bigotry. It's humorous in a macabre way to imagine characters like Homelander, Rose, and Alex DeLarge going into the grocery store and checking off the same item from the dairy aisle.
Though it never fit the traditional image of vice and villainy, milk has transformed from its innocent origins into the preferred beverage of some of entertainment's most iconic bad guys. Ultimately, none of this is an indictment of the beverage itself. If you enjoy milk over its alternatives, that’s entirely your prerogative and shouldn’t be a genuine issue of divisiveness. But if you’re looking to enhance a villain’s menacing image, you don’t need to look much further than a glass of milk to make them appear that much more evil.
