Basic Trope: Warm milk makes people sleepy.
- Straight: Alice has insomnia, so she drinks a glass of warm milk, which helps her fall asleep.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is perfectly active, but the moment she takes a sip of milk that's even slightly warm, she falls fast asleep.
- Warm milk even puts Zodinians to sleep, even though Zodinians don't need to sleep.
- Warm milk causes Alice to fall asleep for three years.
- Downplayed: Alice drinks a warm glass of milk in the middle of the day, which makes her a little dozy for a few minutes.
- Justified:
- Truth in Television to an extent— milk has something in it called opiate precursors, which, especially when heated, can cause sleepiness in some people, including Alice.
- Milk has an amino acid which induces serenity, and the reason Alice couldn't sleep was because she was afraid. She heated the milk up because it was winter.
- Alice drank enough milk (which just so happened to be warm) to induce postprandial somnolence
(which is that thing where eating or drinking a lot makes you sleepy). - The milk was warm, and it was a warm night— the heat made Alice groggy.
- Inverted:
- Warm milk helps Alice to wake up.
- Alice drinks cold milk to cure her insomnia.
- All drinks put Alice to sleep except warm milk.
- Subverted:
- Alice tries warm milk to cure her insomnia, but it doesn't work.
- Alice drinks milk and falls asleep, but then it's later revealed that it wasn't warm.
- It turns out that it wasn't the warm milk that put Alice to sleep, but rather the sleeping pills she took with it.
- It turns out that warm milk makes Alice head over to the bathroom and... does her business.
- Double Subverted:
- It doesn't work initially, but after a while, it works.
- The milk had simply cooled down, but it was warm when Alice drank it.
- The sleeping pills don't work unless warm milk is added.
- Alice goes to sleep in the toilet after... doing her hard business.
- Parodied: Surgeons don't need to use anaesthetic, they just give their patients warm milk.
- Zigzagged: Alice, Bob, Charles, and Diane all drink warm milk. Alice falls asleep, Bob is fine, Charles gets groggy, and Diane actually becomes more energetic.
- Averted:
- Nobody drinks warm milk.
- Warm milk has no effect on people.
- Enforced:
- "We need to have Bob put Alice to sleep, but if he drugs her, he'll look unsympathetic. Let's use warm milk instead."
- "This show is sponsored by the California Milk Processor Board"
- Lampshaded: "Huh, I guess warm milk really does work—-*zzzz*"
- Invoked: Bob deliberately sedates Alice with warm milk.
- Exploited: Alice sells milk, saying, "Just heat it up and your insomnia will be gone!"
- Defied: Alice passes on warm milk as she's lactose intolerant.
- Discussed: "Does warm milk actually make you sleepy?"
- Conversed: "It seems like in cartoons, milk turns into anaesthesia when it's warmed up."
- Implied: Alice is seen drinking something and falling asleep, though we don't know what it is.
- Deconstructed: Alice can't drink tea with milk or hot chocolate, or else she'll fall asleep.
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama: Alice is sedated with warm milk, then kidnapped.
- Played for Horror: Alice is sedated with warm milk, then turned into a zombie.
Back to Warm Milk Helps You Sleep.
