Between My Legs



A standard shot where someone is framed between the legs of another person.

The most famous example is probably the poster for the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only and subsequent parodies thereof. The poster designer for this film decided to put the one-piece swimsuit of the woman on back to front, exposing quite a bit more of her rear. This attracted quite a degree of controversy and in several locales shorts were painted on.

The second most common takes after the shot in The Graduate and the famous line "Mrs. Robinson -- you're trying to seduce me... Aren't you?"

Sometimes this is used to introduce the hero of the story ready to take on his nemesis, or the nemesis that the hero must eventually face, without showing who that person is. The legs of that person could belong to a literally Bigger Bad.

Refered to as "The A Frame" in this article.

Also a standard shot for Dress Hits Floor. This shot is commonly used to establish either The Vamp and/or a Dominatrix.

Advertising

 * Alyssa Milano in one of the Eva Savelot commercials.
 * This GoDaddy.com commmercial.
 * This Super Sexy CPR commercial for Fortnight Lingerie.
 * G. Gordon Liddy, a former Nixon Administration official, released a calendar consisting of images of girls with guns, ostensibly to support gun rights. One of the calender images... well, it's this trope. Unfortunately, the girl's legs are framing Liddy. NSFW, can be viewed here.
 * This Lego commercial uses it in sort of a Western-showdown type scenario.

Anime & Manga

 * The James Bond version is referenced in the opening sequence to City Hunter season 1, among other Bond style poses.
 * A double whammy from the Revolutionary Girl Utena artbook show Anthy and Utena as both the one framed and the one standing.
 * In Samurai Champloo, Mugen confronts Shoryuu in this manner.
 * Black Lagoon does this at one point with Revy framing a very unlucky guy about to get what's coming to him in what's probably a For Your Eyes Only reference. Well, judge for yourself.
 * Also used when Gretel tries to show her graditude to Rock for being the first person who was ever nice to her and crying for her... by dropping her panties and sexually proposing to him, thinking thats is the only way a adult could ever appreciate her in return. Needless to say Rock is less than pleased.
 * The first episode of Inukami! includes one of these - on a man - who's going around using a ray to make other men suddenly become naked. It's a very, very strange first episode.
 * Being the Panty Fighter that it is, Najica Blitz Tactics has several of these to make the Panty Shot easier on skirted characters.
 * Another Panty Fighter, Ikki Tousen, also uses this on occasion, with one notable example occurring at the end of the second episode of Dragon Destiny with Ryomou as the framer and Ekitoku as the framee.
 * The anime Golden Boy uses this when Kintaro imagines getting dominated by an attractive woman. Naturally, she's framing him.
 * The Case Files of Yakushiji Ryoko loves to use the titular character's legs as framing devices. She does have very nice legs, admittedly.
 * Seen in the Power Card episode of Cardcaptor Sakura for a good long while. Also briefly seen in the episode with the Switch Card.
 * In the manga Shaolin Sisters, this shot is used several times in nearly every issue, usually of the heroine, Julin.
 * What may be the longest example of this shot can be seen in episode 6 of I My Me! Strawberry Eggs, viewable here at 4:20. It lasts about 35 seconds.
 * In Uta Kata, Manatsu's legs often frame Ichika during her transformations.
 * Mimiru is introduced with this shot in the first episode of .hack//Sign.
 * Episode 1 of Re:Cutey Honey. Even more obviously for fanservice because the title character's bare butt also takes up half of the shot.
 * Pearl of all characters has this shot in volume one of the Phoenix Wright Casebook manga.
 * Chidori gets this shot in several episodes of Full Metal Panic! and episode 11 of Fumoffu?.
 * This shot is used very often in DragonBall Z, mostly during fight scenes.
 * Pokémon: There is a between-the-legs shot of Misty in the episode Forest Grumps.
 * Also of May in the episode A Ruin With a View, when she spots an Azurill.
 * The very beginning of episode 36 of Black & White has this to introduce the Character of the Day, Georgia. Episode 38 of the same series has one of Officer Jenny.
 * Bamboo Blade has this in episode 14, of Miya-Miya framing Azuma, the shot emphasizing Miya's intimidation of Azuma.
 * Welcome to The NHK has this shot of Misaki in episode 3.
 * The intro of Mazinger Z... with Humongous Mecha instead of The Vamp.
 * And the first page of a chapter of Shin Mazinger Zero, with Kouji and two Gamias being seen between the legs of Minerva-X.
 * At the end of episode 00 of Haruhi Suzumiya, this shot is seen of Haruhi while she's standing on a table.
 * Akane gets a moment of this (while wearing a Modesty Towel, no less) in episode 112 of Ranma 1/2.
 * A Channel has one of Nagi in episode 2.
 * Strike Witches has two of these in season 2, episode 7, both on characters whose underwear are pulled down.
 * In Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, when Nadia stands up in the bath her legs frame Daphne.

Comics

 * Homage to For Your Eyes Only on the cover of the second issue of a Chuck comic book adaptation.
 * The cover for the Spirou and Fantasio album Qui arrêtera Cyanure ?
 * The cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths issue 8 has the Anti Monitor framing Flash and Psycho Pirate.
 * The first post-Crisis Supergirl, a.k.a. Matrix, was introduced with this, which also served to hide her face.
 * Also seen in Supergirl issue 21.
 * Such shots are common within those compilations of covers from Bully's Blogspot:
 * Marvel Comics: Look at my butt!
 * DC Comics: Buttocks Reduttox
 * Somehow Gen 13's Fairchild has legs longer than she is tall.
 * The cover for Tome 4 of the French-Canadian comic Les Nombrils.
 * The cover of Savage She Hulk #2.
 * The cover of Green Arrow #32.

Films -- Animation

 * In the SpongeBob SquarePants movie, this is parodied in a scene during the Goofy Goober Rock. SpongeBob is shown framed by a pair of legs wearing fishnets and high heeled boots. The camera then zooms out to show that the legs belong to Patrick.

Films -- Live-Action

 * Too many VHS, and now DVD, covers to count, including almost everything by Broken Lizard and anything with "cheerleader" in the title.
 * A very common shot in Western showdowns.
 * Lots of posters in one place.
 * Weirdly inverted in the DVD cover of the previously mentioned For Your Eyes Only.
 * The two principal actresses argued over the poster, saying "those are MY legs". In fact, they were an artist's rendering.
 * Also seen in You Only Live Twice, with one of the women from the bathhouse.
 * In James Cameron's True Lies, this shot is seen during a sequence where Jamie Lee Curtis' character, Helen Tasker, dances seductively for a supposed foreign criminal (who's really her husband in shadow).
 * This shot occurs in the film Kinky Boots when Lauren models the prototype pair for Charlie. In the commentary, the director mentions that he couldn't resist making it. Also, there isn't any peek-a-boo because Lauren is completely clothed and the boots go all the way up her thigh.
 * The Super Troopers promo material? Nice.
 * And in an Affectionate Parody of a Busby Berkeley number in The Big Lebowski, about 2 minutes into the Disney Acid Sequence.
 * In 42nd Street, for instance, the "Young and Healthy" number has the singers emerging from beneath a whole tunnel of Chorus Girls' legs. The image was also used for the film's poster.
 * A spider woman crawls through a tunnel of legs in the "All Over The World" segment of Xanadu.
 * Done in the Tomb Raider film, with a shot between Angelina Jolie's legs while she's fighting a robot.
 * The Kingpin has this, but with the two main characters' heads between the legs. "And the girl's!"
 * In The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, this shot is seen with Lavagirl's legs doing the framing.
 * [[media:RunningCool.jpg|The cover]] of the biker comedy Running Cool.
 * On the original poster of The Slumber Party Massacre, with killer's would-be victims in the shot. Also, the killer's drill is hanging there for some freudian implications.
 * The poster for The Closer You Get (2000).
 * The poster for Ball & Chain (2004).
 * A rare lesbian example can be seen in Russ Meyer's Vixen, with a frustrated wife who's about to be seduced by the title Vamp framed in that way.
 * Parodied in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, with Michael Cera in between Satya Babha's legs.
 * Parodied on promotional pictures of You Don't Mess With the Zohan: the camera is positioned under Zohan's very unattractive, hairy legs, while Zohan himself is about to dry your hair.
 * The Disney Channel original movie Double Teamed has a shot of one of the protagonists between her rival's legs as they prepare to play one-on-one.
 * Shows up three times in Bring It On: All or Nothing, with Britney framed by the legs of each the three members of the cheer leading team as they do a routine on the table.
 * Variation happens in Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, when the duo drags the remains of the guy who jumped into the woodchipper and the sheriff appears.
 * Used in The Proposal in the scene where Margaret is trying to get the dog to go away.
 * The camera pans through Spalko's when she sees Indy blow up one of the Soviet vehicles in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
 * An example in American Pie, showing Jim's reaction through Nadia's legs.
 * Transporter 2. Psycho for Hire Lola gives us a good look at her red Combat Stilettos before using Guns Akimbo on the protagonist for the first time.
 * The 1992 French movie L'Amant (The Lover, adapted from the eponymous novel by Marguerite Duras). At the beginning of the movie the female protagonist stands with one leg up on the rail of a river ferry, and the car chauffeuring her future lover drives into view between them.
 * Done with Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean : At World's End while standing on the table at the Brethren Court. He is also holding a chain-shot in one hand, and lets the two cannonballs hang during the shot.
 * The film Closer features one of these shots of Natalie Portman's character, Alice, though the shot is appropriate considering it's in a strip club.

Live-Action TV

 * Done in Ashes to Ashes as an Homage to the For Your Eyes Only poster (which appears in the background of the next shot).
 * In Scrubs after Jordan's "take off your pants" we see her framed by JD's legs, although Jordan was quite clearly The Vamp in this situation.
 * Scrubs uses this again when JD imagines having male strippers in his house (don't ask).
 * A rare non-fanservice version: In the pilot for the original Knight Rider, Michael Knight is wandering through a dark warehouse, looking for Devon Miles. At one point he stops, legs framing the camera (playing the trope straight). Then, in the darkness of the warehouse, we see KITT's red LED light, strobing back and forth.
 * This shot is taken of Charlotte Ross in her infamous shower scene on NYPD Blue, showing the reaction of the kid that walked in on her through her legs.
 * The DVD boxset for season 2 of Chuck gives us a fine view of Sarah's legs.
 * Played with in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's the very first shot of season 3. A vampire crawls part-way out of his grave, only to be framed by two leather-clad legs. Reverse angle and its not who you were expecting, but Willow. Same thing happens in the first shot of Season 6, too, only this time it's the Buffybot.
 * Played for laughs in the Living Single episode The Glass Ceiling, as while Max poses nude for a painting, there's a shot of Khadijah and Synclaire framed by Max's legs to show their reactions, with Khadijah noting "Max, you pierced your belly button!".
 * In the episode of The Big Bang Theory, The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization, this shot is used with Penny's legs framing a remote control car with a camera that's trying to see... well, between her legs.
 * Seen in this promo for season seven of Desperate Housewives.
 * In an episode of ER, this shot is used when Abby is taking pictures of Neela.
 * 1960's Batman episode "It's the Way You Play the Game". During the climactic showdown between the Old West style villain Shame and the Dynamic Duo, we get a shot of Batman and Robin as viewed between Shame's legs. As noted in the section this was often done in Western movie showdowns, and was thus an homage to those scenes.

Music

 * Subverted in the video for "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" in which the very attractive Selena Gomez is framed between the legs of an unattractive woman several times.
 * Used in Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" about 2:25 into the video.
 * Used on the cover of Deep Throat's The Devil in Miss Jones, with a dominatrix and her slave.
 * In Lit's music video for Miserable, the band is at one point framed by Pamela Anderson's legs.
 * The music video of "Kids" by Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue features Kylie's legs framing Robbie towards the end.

Print Media

 * This article displaying various pulp magazines covers, humorously titled "Spread 'Em."

Pro Wrestling

 * For yet-unknown reasons, The Naturals' entrance in TNA Wrestling was often framed by So-Cal Val's legs.
 * TNA tried to get at least one camera shot of So-Cal Val per show back then, resulting in several other wrestlers getting the 'frame' treatment. I'm guessing it was for Fan Service reasons.
 * A few WWE Divas have had this shot, including Stacy Keibler, Sable and Miss Jackie.

Video Games

 * Near the end of Lair of the Shadow Broker in Mass Effect 2, Shepard and Liara confront the titular Shadow Broker, who knocks them to the ground. The camera cuts to a quick shot of the Broker standing up and Shepard and Liara between his legs, showing how huge the Broker is. (He's at least 10 feet tall, and his legs look to be about a foot in diameter.)
 * A very, very long sequence in every Parodius game (usually in the last or next-to-last stage) involves the player's ship/penguin/octopus/paper plane flying between the legs of a humongous Belly Dancer as she stomps around, filling the screen. This was originally a parody of the giant mechanical spider from Gradius II.
 * In one of the solo modes for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the win screen for Captain Falcon has Captain Falcon framing... Captain Falcon.
 * Christie's ending in Dead or Alive 4.
 * A framing shot in a cutscene from Dragon Age II has two boys in the Undercity running away from a woman who is a blood mage, who end up running into her.
 * In this commercial for Heavenly Sword.
 * In Metal Gear Solid, Otacon is framed this way between Snake's legs when Snake first releases him from the locker, to emphasise Snake's strength compared to Otacon.

Web Comics

 * Sluggy Freelance does this in a rather bizarre fashion, naturally.
 * Trying Human, in this page when
 * Ronin Galaxy: When Taylor gets caught by the Akuma gang

Web Originals

 * Used in this Reckless Tortuga video.
 * In the Commodore HUSTLE video "The Gay Chicken", this kind of shot is used when Morgan tries to unsettle Bill by calling him over and then dropping his pants. When Bill responds by doing the same, Morgan's reaction is also shown through Bill's legs.

Western Animation

 * An episode of Futurama parodies the James Bond example in a movie poster for the Show Within a Show All My Circuits.
 * The Simpsons sent up the shot from The Graduate in the episode "Lisa's Substitute" replacing Mrs. Robinson with Mrs. Krabapple.
 * Homer's legs between the trampoline while he's trying to get rid of it in "Bart's Inner Child".
 * The comic book/episode Mad Love in Batman the Animated Series also parodies this, with Harley's legs framing the Joker, who of course has his back to her and is too busy planning Batman's death to even notice.
 * The Venture Brothers uses this shot at least once, usually with Brock being the framer. Oh, and he's usually naked.
 * Justice League Unlimited seems to have an obsession with doing this with Black Canary, as it happens at least three times alone in the episode "The Cat and the Canary". Must be the fishnets. Galatea also gets this a few times during her appearance in "Panic in the Sky", which only adds to the fuckton of Les Yay between her and Supergirl when they fight.
 * Also seen with Wonder Woman in the episode "Hawk and Dove", and Hawkgirl in the episode where Wonder Woman is fighting against her, Vixen, Huntress and Canary.
 * In addition to being in pretty much every other Fan Service tropes, Totally Spies! uses this trope often. In addition to all three girls having this shot several times (sometimes even framing each other), an assload of other one time characters have had it.
 * Oh, and Jerry.
 * An episode of the Super Mario World cartoon has one where Cootie Pie (Wendy O.) walks up to the scene where Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Yoshi are between her legs.
 * In the Kim Possible episode "October 31st", where the Centurion Project suit completely covers her entire body (due to the heavy stress from lying) and completely shredded her princess costume. There's a shot of Josh Mankey and Monique between her legs.
 * Seen on Toph in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Not surprising since lots of shots focus on her feet.
 * Danny Phantom
 * There is a shot of Danny between Dash's legs in episode "Lucky in Love".
 * Also Danny between Sam's legs in "Memory Blank".
 * Seen a strangely large amount of times in The Powerpuff Girls. Often on Blossom, also seen on Buttercup, Bubbles, Princess or Ms. Bellum.
 * Done in an episode of Ren and Stimpy Adult Cartoon Party when Ren is shaving a woman while posing as a bathroom attendant and he proceeds to shave her down there, note this version of the show is catered to a more mature audience.
 * In Code Lyoko episode "Unchartered Territory", there's a shot of Sissi between Aelita's legs when she walks outside.
 * In Sabrina: The Animated Series, a stand-off between Sabrina and her rival Gem has a shot of Sabrina framed by Gem's legs.
 * Seen in a Ka Blam! episode where Mr. Foot was in a James Bond parody movie. The end of the trailer has Mr. Foot standing in between the legs of another sasquatch.
 * Often used in Winx Club, this is done during many of the dramatic situations involving the girls.
 * Parodied in the promotional artwork for "The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!", as seen here.
 * In Archie's Weird Mysteries, the episode Dream Girl has this shot twice, once of Veronica in school and once of Betty while confronting the titular "dream girl".
 * In the X-Men: Evolution episode Shadowed Past, Rogue's legs frame Mystique when she stops her from escaping.
 * In Transformers Prime episode Speed Metal, this is how Sierra is first framed when she starts the race between Jack (driving Bumblebee) and Jerk Jock Vince.
 * El Tigre has an example of this with Maria (Manny's mom) in the episode "A Mother's Glove".
 * During the end of the musical montage in "Hey Ferb" an entire line of dancers frames Phineas in this way.
 * In episode 1 of The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, of the titular character.