Milking the Giant Cow: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Among drama students, "[[Milking the Giant Cow]]" is a term that refers to the practice of holding your hands skyward (or merely gesticulating wildly) to show emotion. May be accompanied by a [[Skyward Scream]].

 

* [[Leslie Nielsen]] perfected the "wildly gesticulating while holding a drink" version.

 

== Anime And Manga ==

 

* ''[[Code Geass]]'': Lelouch Lamperouge, being a [[Large Ham]], does it all the time. Even when simply removing a contact lens, {{spoiler|which coincidentially unlocks his Geass power, but that's details}}. At some point, C.C. asks him why he needs to be so theatrical when he uses his Geass, and he tells her to shut up.

** It should be obvious to C.C. and the audience; if he's only exposing his eye during the instant of one command, a flourish would draw the required attention to that eye.

* ''[[Stellvia]]'': The Stellvia's captain does an epic arm flourish when ordering to fire the last remaining laser shot that can save Earth from imminent destruction in the final episode.

 

== Comics ==

 

* In one ''[[Zits]]'' comic, we get a long series of panels showing Jeremy "dance" by jumping up and down while pumping his fists. Hector says he looks like he's milking a kangaroo.

 

== Film -- Animated ==

* Ralph Bashki's ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' movie had Gandalf and Boromir doing this a lot.

 

* Since the actors of ''[[Bitter Lake]]'' performed the entire movie in fursuits with largely immobile faces, they resorted to overacting the body language in a desperate attempt to sell the flat vocal acting.

* [[Star Wars|David Prowse]] milks the proverbial cow like he's getting a bonus for every hand gesture he makes.

* Doc Brown of ''[[Back to The Future]]'' wildly gesticulates whenever he speaks. In the Making Of, director Robert Zimeckis said Christopher Lloyd was taking inspiration from the conductor in [[Fantasia]], and described him as 'conducting the world'.

 

** The current Doctor Matt Smith delves into this consistently, though considering what type of character he's playing, it really, reelly works.

* In ''[[Power Rangers]],'' suited characters often kick the wild gesturing [[Up to Eleven]]. It's especially noticeable when still suited outside fight scene (like figuring out device, etc.) In the early years, these gestures would be accompanied by the same swishing-through-air sound as martial arts strikes. [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]?

'''McCoy''': Not a ''[[Take That|milkman]]''!<br />

'''Kirk''': What does ''that'' mean?<br />

'''McCoy''': And I'm sorry, [[He's Dead, Jim]]. }}

{{quote| "Oh Buffy, I love you so much I almost forgot to brood!"}}

 

 

* [[Gackt]] must have a clause in his contract that requires him to do this at least once per [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B4ylyRLu-Q music video] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v12i6vJj988 stage performance].

* Vocalist Kamijo has always been [[Chewing the Scenery|partial to a nice piece of stage]], but he takeshis wild dramatic gesturing [[Up to Eleven]] in the last couple of minutes of [[Versailles]]' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne423XWtjf4 Ascendead Master PV]. The rest of the band join as well- if they can get away with taking their hand away from their instrument for a minute, they do just that and make it worth it.

* [[Shirley Bassey]] does this every time a song has a big finish. And most of her numbers have big finishes.

 

* Justified trope for games that use a [[Super-Deformed]] art style--since the character's face is often just a very tiny rectangle with even tinier dots for eyes, extremely exaggerated body language is necessary to get the emotion across. Even motion capture has not escaped this trope. Given the limits of technology, it's not (yet) possible for mo-cap to pick up subtle gestures and facial expressions, so many actors are [[Going Through the Motions|encouraged to unleash]] their inner [[Large Ham]].

* ''[[Monkey Island]]'' Stan the Salesman and its sequels parodies this by flailing his arms wildly no matter what he's saying. It also serves to draw attention to his [[Unmoving Plaid]] jacket, making it even more amusing.

* Xehanort from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' tends over-exaggerate with his hands throughout the series, but his latest (or earliest?) incarnation as [[Birth By Sleep]]'s Master Xehanort takes milking the giant cow ([[Chewing the Scenery|of]] '''[[Large Ham|darkness!]]''') to a fine art. The man is seemingly unable to make speeches without making clutching/grasping motions of some sort.

** Justified with his Nobody counterpart, Xemnas, As nobody's have no hearts they also have no emotion therefore have to exaggerate their feelings.

* The characters of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' indulge in this a fair bit.

* In ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'' and ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon]]'', [[Large Ham|Dr.]] [[Mad Scientist|Victor]] is made incredibly awesome by his abuse of this.

* In the in-game cutscenes in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic V]]'', the characters have a very small pool of body language expressions, almost all of which are highly overblown and [[Large Ham|Hammy]].

* In ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', Vincent is never able to keep his hands still while talking.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* According to [[Nigahiga]] hand motions accompanied with [[Cluster F-Bomb]] are the first lesson to being Gangster.

* [[Doctor Steel]] combines this with a [[Skyward Scream]] in ''The Dr. Steel Show'' Episode 1.

* [[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]] Agent Isaiah does this in the nightmare where he turns into a [[Marty Stu]].

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'', Mrs. Brisby does this at least once, mainly as a way for the animators to underline her anxiety.

* The ''[[Venture Brothers]]'' resident cow-milker is Dr. Orpheus; he'll gesture wildly [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|even if saying rather mundane things]].

* In the crossover episode of ''[[Captain N]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda|The Legend Of Zelda Cartoon]]'', everyone celebrates by ''lifitng their arms up and down''.

* Hexadecimal in ''[[Re Boot]]'' very often, though it's justified: her mask changes off-screen with every swipe of her hand.

* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Katara]], while mocking Sokka for his big ears, decides it is necessary to mime "elephant ears" using her hands, along with pointing dramatically as if she has an [[Ace Attorney|objection]]. Apparently this is a genetic trait: later, in season two, Sokka gets a little...intense while cheering and booing during the earthbending tournament.