Let's Talk About That Milking Scene In Star Wars: The Last Jedi
At the end of J.J. Abrams' 2015 film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" a young woman named Rey (Daisy Ridley) has spent a portion of the movie attempting to located a long-lost Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who has been living in isolation on a hidden planet. The final shot of the film is Rey handing Luke his old lightsaber, hoping that he will emerge from exile in order to join a new war effort that had been started in his absence. At the head of the 2017 sequel, Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," Luke takes the lightsaber and throws it over his shoulder, annoyed to have been offered. He later points out, essentially, that he has no desire to join in any kind of fight. He has grown nihilistic and bitter. He is now a disappointed idealist whose only recourse is to live humbly in complete isolation.
On his island, he lives in a thatched-roof cottage, hiding Jedi texts from the world, existing in peace with the scant locals. For sustenance, he travels across a ravine to a strange species of large, humanoid, elephant seal-like creatures who constantly face the ocean. He milks the creatures, and takes lusty chugs of their green excretions from a thermos. Luke, it seems, has figured out a spartan life.
A dive into "Star Wars" extended lore reveals the green milk is provided by creatures called thala-sirens. In a 2018 interview with the Radio Times, Hamill revealed that the milk he drank in "The Last Jedi" was, disappointingly, mere coconut water that was digitally shaded green in post-production. Sadly, there was no magical alchemy in making green milk.
Luke is old and gross now!
Audience reaction to Luke milking a weird, snouted monster and savoring the flavor of its mammarian bounty was ... one might say mixed. In the context of "The Last Jedi," it was logical that Luke, having withdrawn from the galaxy at large, would become a hermit who relied on local agriculture and fauna to provide his nutrition. In a more verdant clime, one might see Luke farming or raising goats. But director Johnson clearly wanted to rid Luke's hermetic life of blissful, pastoral iconography, and made his ocean-bound island look and feel cold and forbidding. Luke, at this point in his story, has not retired in joy, but withdrawn in disgust. He saw the Dark Side grow in a student of his, nearly committed murder, grew disillusioned with the way evil will always persist, and fled.
In a way, Luke not only fled the events of "Star Wars," but, in a metanarrative flourish, fled the movies themselves. The star wars, he seems to recognize from within, will never be won. It's been endless death since 1977. War and violence and evil are constant in this universe. What is a hero, but another violent figure in this unending cycle? Can one blame Luke for wanting to bow out?
The green milk was, for some fans, a symbol of how unheroic Luke had become. Those who wanted a man in his mid 60s to return to action, weapons blazing, were taken aback by the notion that he would merely age out. "Star Wars" was washing its hands of "Star Wars." Washing its hands in goopy green milk. Some appreciated Johnson's criticisms of "Star Wars." Others wailed in disappointment.
The history of colored milks
Want to drink the criticism yourself? You can.
The green milk in question can indeed be imbibed at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. In their "Star Wars"-themed section of the park, called Galaxy's Edge, a local tavern will mix visitors a Green Milk Cooler, which is, in fact a mix of coconut and rice milks, tropical fruit flavoring, and Corazon Blanco Tequila. It costs $14. Head canon immediately assigns tequila flavor — and perhaps ABV — to Luke Skywalker's monster milk excursions.
Colored milks, of course, are a tradition that stretches back to the original 1977 "Star Wars" wherein Luke Skywalker's Aunt Beru (British actor Shelagh Fraser) and Uncle Owen (Phil Brown) drink blue milk with their meals. On the surface, the blue milk was merely a detail to make the food look more alien to an earthbound audience. In extended canon, however, the blue milk was, in fact, the milk of banthas, large yak-like creatures seem roaming the deserts of the desert world Tatooine.
Because the Tatooine scenes in "Star Wars" were filmed in the deserts Tunisia, refrigeration was scarce, and storing common milk products was difficult. As such, the blue bantha fluid was a mixture of blue food coloring and a special type of ultra-pasteurized, shelf-stable milk that could be purchased locally. Many nations around the world sell ultra-pasteurized milk. It has a much stronger flavor than refrigerated milk, and will shock those used to the latter.
What did it taste like?
Mark Hamill certainly wasn't fond of the blue milk, and in the Radio Times, credited his own acting skill for his ability to choke back a cup while not gagging. Know, "Star Wars" fans, that Hamill has knocked back several flagons of undesirable dairy for your benefit. If either the blue milk or the green milk looked gross, it's kind of because it was supposed to. In Hamill's words:
"Well, the original blue milk was what they call long life milk, which you get at camping stores because you don't have to refrigerate it. So it has additives — they put blue food coloring in it — and it was really ghastly. Oily and sweet and yuck! Triggered your gag reflex. But I said, 'Look, if they gave me blue milk, you bet I'm going to drink it on camera, because what other chance am I going to get?' So there's an indication that I'm an underrated actor: I gulped it and acted like I liked it without vomiting."
Naturally, Disneyland also serves a blue milk cocktail, but not with the stuff you get at camping stores. The Blue Milk Cooler is the same blend of coconut and rice milks as the Green version, with an infusion of fruit flavor (the Disneyland menu calls them "fruity characteristics"), and with Bacardi. It is, essentially, a fruit-infused dulce de leche, or maybe a coquito. Reviews online have said the Blue Milk is rather spirit-forward, whereas the Green Milk was complimented by the addition of Tequila.
Perhaps after a few Green Milk Coolers — poured with a heavy hand — one can finally have a conversation online about "The Last Jedi" without getting angry!