Let’s Unpack Gunpowder Milkshake
If you were to use a random word generator, the chances you’d end up with the two words Gunpowder Milkshake are probably pretty slim. However, despite the seeming oxymoron, I actually think the movie’s title works well. I think it’s just quirky enough to be attention grabbing without being completely unrelated.
Truth be told, despite my curiosity, it took me a while to get around to watching Gunpowder Milkshake. I am not a huge fan of female led action movies — not because I’m not a feminist or think they’re products of “woke” culture or anything — I just think by and large the (*cough* male) directors don’t do the main characters of these movies justice by giving them a compelling reason to root for them.
However, in spite of myself, I actually really enjoyed Gunpowder Milkshake as a whole. Upon reflection, I believe this comes down to three main things: the lighting choices, the clothing, and how characters react to the themes of greed and violence.
The Lighting
The lighting in Gunpowder Milkshake can give us clues as to where characters are in their journey. The beginning of the movie lacks lighting. Both the opening scene of Sam killing a guy and her relaxing in her apartment are dark. Any light that exists is in cool tones. In fact, even the motel that Sam kills Emily’s father in is dark and muted. This fits with the film’s noir aesthetic to this point. Sam is very much trying to fit into the world around her and not stand out.
This culminates in the moment when Sam enters Gutterball Bowling. The entire place is lit up in neon lights. So much so that it makes Sam’s all black attire stand out all the more. The contrast between the overly lighted environment and Sam’s dark appearance gives the visual effect that Sam is “sucking in” the surrounding light. This scene is the start of Sam reclaiming some of her lost innocence and identity through her relationships with other women, but it hasn’t happened yet. Therefore, all the color is outside her person.
By comparison, let’s look at the end scene where Sam ends up back in the diner confronting the mob boss. At the beginning of the movie, when Sam was in the diner, it was dark. However, now, at the end of Sam’s journey, when she has reconnected with the librarians and her mother, and she cares about Emily, the diner is very bright and well lit. All the women are in brightly colored clothes. This makes the drab colored men stand out more and look out of place compared to their surroundings.
Sam’s mother goes even further by directly stating what’s implied by inverting this scene. There is no longer room to stand on the sidelines; everyone needs to pick a side. The women have finally realized their own agency and individuality. No longer are they going to passively play by the men’s rules.
The Clothing
Emily
Emily starts off Gunpowder Milkshake wearing a puffy yellow jacket. Yellow is a very bright and cheerful color, which is made all the more stark by the lack of color surrounding it. It’s inferred that the yellow jacket is representative of Emily’s innocence, given that she’s eight years old. (Oh excuse me, eight and three quarters.) Unlike those around her, Emily’s vibrancy has not been dimmed by the world around her yet.
This makes her wardrobe change to blue and pink at the end of the movie all the more stark. By this point, Emily has been unwittingly thrust into a violent world, come face to face with her father’s killer, and been kidnapped by a crime syndicate — twice. That’s a lot to face as an eight-year-old. Therefore, it follows that Emily would end up a little more world weary by the end of the movie. She’s seen and been through too much, and a cooler color pallet for her wardrobe reflects this growth. It’s still bright — just not quite as bright as before.
Sam
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When viewers first meet Sam, she is camouflaging in order to survive in the male dominated organization she works in. Dressed in all black with a hat that covers half her face, Sam cuts an unremarkable and masculine figure.
However, immediately after Sam makes the decision to save Emily, her wardrobe begins to change. The wind rips her hat from her head, indicating that Sam is no longer able to hide. And when Sam leaves the Gutterball bowling alley, she dons an orange and white retro bomber jacket.
Coincidentally, the jacket has a cartoonish tiger as part of the logo. This is an important detail for two reasons: 1) when Sam is a teenager, we see her holding a stuffed leopard in the diner when her mother is originally forced to flee, so we know that she has an affinity for large cats, and 2) the only information viewers have about Emily at this point is a cartoon panda luggage and phone case.
Therefore, by putting on the jacket, the viewer is able to start making a connection between the two characters. Both have had their parents taken away from them by forces outside of their control. Sam is fighting for Emily on principle, but also reclaiming a bit of her own innocence and fighting for what she wished she had growing up.
What Sam’s Mother Wears
Sam’s mother dresses in drab colors. By comparison to Sam, Emily, and even the librarians, Sam’s mother’s wardrobe is really more similar to that of the men in this movie. As her mother explains her disappearance, it quickly becomes apparent to viewers that her wardrobe reflects the state of her character. Plagued by the death of her husband, forced to leave her daughter, and boxed in by the patriarchal organization she’s a part of, Sam’s mother has largely been beaten down by the outside world.
Nathan
Nathan is arguably the brightest dressed man in the movie. Even in the beginning of the movie, Nathan is wearing colorful ties and accents to his suits, and by the end, he is wearing a full blue and orange leisurewear ensemble. This is perhaps due to the fact that he has been “looking after” Sam for much of her life after her mother’s disappearance. As such, there seems to be at least some kind of genuine connection and affection between the two. Nathan may truly believe that he is doing what’s best by trying to “protect” Sam from The Firm writ large. (As can be seen when he instructs Boneheads 1,2, and 3, to try to non-lethally reason with Sam.)
However, this desire, however well intentioned, is still misguided in the fact that it comes from a patriarchal place.
The Goons
They only wear black and white or very very muted drab colors. What’s more, they’re all in some version of a suit. Their clothing demonstrates their lack of individuality, given that each one is literally interchangeable with the others. Additionally, the lack of color is also indicative of their loss of soul. They’ve been beaten down by the world they inhabit.
Men are Greedy and Greed is Bad
What would push you to kill someone: power, greed, love? Gunpowder Milkshake’s answer to this is that men are greedy, and greed is bad. This point is demonstrated in a number of ways. The first and most obvious is through the thugs who initially blackmail Emily’s father. After Sam has delivered the money, the thugs immediately turn on each other, mercilessly killing each other over the money, while Sam watches impassively.
I had a strong urge to laugh during this scene, because the character’s actions are so unnecessary. They were already in the car and had a head start over Sam, who was on foot. Unless Sam was secretly the Terminator, the thugs were pretty much guaranteed an escape. Yet, they couldn’t hold themselves together for five seconds after touching money? Sad. Additionally, as a one woman army against both a literal and metaphorical mob (of) people in the library, Sam beats one of her attackers unconscious with a literal bar of gold. Talk about direct.
Furthermore, Sam is continually betrayed by men whom she “trusts” in the name of greed. (I put the word trust in quotes because it’s unclear whether Sam actually fully trusts these people. However, she does go to them for help. Therefore, for argument’s sake, the word seems apt.) For example, the doctor who betrays Sam and Emily in his office. He is present when the goons are asked to stop Sam by any means necessary, and he volunteers to numb her arms, thereby making killing her easier. Sam had already come to the doctor once, asking him to save Emily’s father. As a doctor, at the very least, he could’ve warned Sam. He warned the nurse working under him by advising her to “take a break”. Instead, he chooses greed, and very nearly loses his life because of it. Then, of course, there’s Nathan. Although Nathan pretends to care about Sam, (and arguably does to some extent), ultimately he is incapable of putting his care for Sam above his desire to reclaim the money.
What are your thoughts? Have you seen Gunpowder Milkshake, and if so, did you like it? Let me know in the comments?
