A trope seen in movies, TV, and other forms of visual media where a character (typically
female, with some exceptions) raises one of their legs upon being kissed passionately.
Though there are examples of this in advertisements prior, the rise of popularity of this trope may have been due to the The Motion Picture Production Code (1930-
68). Two of the terms of the code (a.k.a. the Hays Code) were that a woman must have at least
one foot on the ground during kissing scenes (so that she couldn't be on a bed, as it would be scene sexually) and that explicit sex could not be shown. Film historians look back on this gesture as either a euphemism for a
boner or as a way of implying two characters had sex.
Alternative theories state that it was used for actresses to show off their legs, or to show that a
female character could trust her male romantic counterpart by his ability to hold her up. It is also popular in height difference ship
art, as
one character would be shorter than the other.
Note: This is a trope, and is very unlikely to naturally happen in real life. Some
people, on receiving their first
kiss, may do this with ignorance that it
(from
movie The Princess Diaries, which inspired the name "foot popping
kiss")
Mia: In old films, whenever a girl would get seriously kissed, her foot would just kind of...pop!
