Why is it that movie directors seem to think that a dramatic moment is made more dramatic when someone drops milk in a glass container?

Let’s not put all the blame on the director. Someone had to write that scene. I’ll break down my view on the matter by each element.

Glass container – It shatters nicely. Let’s be honest – we love the sound of shattered glass. Also, a glass container is always a nice metaphor for the human condition/body.

Milk – I haven’t seen milk used all too often, but I would assume they use it for its thickness. Playing on the glass/human metaphor, milk is closer to blood than water. Other liquids would be better, but milk is more common. It is also more visible than water when it splatters.

Slow Motion – Because having a glass of milk fall in real time, would be too damn quick. Which is great for horror flicks. The action & sound is sudden, no time to think. For dramatic movies, slowing down time gives us a moment to process the situation & maybe get inside the characters head & try to imagine what they are thinking before the glass shatters.

This is just what comes to my mind. Every viewer will interpret these meanings/purposes differently. I agree that it is a bit overdone, but when used in the right place/right time, it is quite effective.

@rpmpseudonym When I was reading blogs and stories by screen writers one of the biggest complaints that kept coming up was that the movie that you see is rarely the movie that was written because directors tend to change things up quite a bit.

Milk is more visible than water, that’s what I think.

@Self_Consuming_Cannibal Can you name some of the movies that contain this type of scene? I can’t think of any right now.

@erichw1504 Well it’s not a movie, but on the show Smallville, it has happened more than once and I known I’ve seen it on other stuff but I just can’t think of any it right now.

I saw it in that REM video years ago.

It’s Chekov’s rule, right? “A pitcher of milk seen in the first act must fall to the floor and shatter by the third.”

It photographs well, and it’s symbolic of… spilled milk!