Skip to main content

Milkshake

Saturday night, while visiting relatives, I skimmed through the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly and came across a small article on an apparently popular catchphrase. The catch is, I hadn't heard anyone use it and am rather suspicious of its popularity. The following morning, I read Tasha's entry (where publicists came by her office to drop off something tied directly to the line) and I found the timing even more suspicious.

The line is from There Will Be Blood and it's from the final scene: "I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!" says Plainview to his rival Eli Sunday. Of all the powerful quotes from that movie, this flimsy little line is what people appear to gravitate towards. Yes, rather than "I am finished" or "I am a false prophet and God is a superstition," it's this.

Searching on Google, there are plenty of amusing results: idrinkyourmilkshake.com is at the top of the list, along with message board threads, and even a MySpace username changed to it. Now looking at these results, I get the feeling this is not some lame attempt by the studio to get some more box office revenue. The film's Oscar nominations alone have given more people reasons to see it. Why a vanilla milkshake would be dropped off at the AV Club is probably just the publicity department playing along with a pop culture catchphrase. End of story, right? Well, for me, I think about what draws people to phrases like this.

Not so much like the "more cowbell" line, but I think about a certain phrase from The Silence of the Lambs: no, it's not the fava beans line or "I'm having an old friend for dinner," it's the lines about rubbing lotion on skin and putting the lotion in the basket. I had never heard anyone ever quote these lines between the film's theatrical release in 1991 and 2000. A short little insertion of it in the short-lived Clerks cartoon made me wonder. From then on, it seems to be one of the most recognized lines. My question: how and why?

I guess the parallel between these lines is this: inconsequential line that has a weird, demented and witty tone to it. Why people say it is really of no deep reason, and that's totally fine. I'm just curious what people find so appealing about lines like these. Do they reduce a great film to a fun catchphrase or is it just a way of remembering a great film?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J