[“Thirsty doll drinking milk.” Photograph by Bernard Hoffman. March 1950. Life Photo Archive.]
This doll is drinking what Roland Barthes calls “the true anti-wine”:
Wine is mutilating, surgical, it transmutes and delivers; milk is cosmetic, it joins, covers, restores. Moreover, its purity, associated with the innocence of the child, is a token of strength, of a strength which is not revulsive, not congestive, but calm, white, lucid, the equal of reality.Related reading
“Wine and Milk,” in Mythologies , trans. Annette Lavers (New York: Noonday Press, 1972).
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comments: 2
Nothing is more sinister than a doll. You should check out Peter Blegvad's Milk Museum, especially the essay
MILK – A Full Immersion For Thirsty Minds. Blegvad is a confessed milk-obsessive.
Yikes! Thanks, Chris.
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