Foot Focus/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character's bare feet are given unusual attention.
 * Straight: Alice is barefoot in a scene, and there are close-ups of her feet.
 * Exaggerated: Every character in the work is barefoot, and all the scenes are shot from floor level.
 * Justified:
 * Alice is about to run away from a captor; the camera zooms in on her feet slipping out of her high heels as a way of letting the audience know what she intends to do.
 * It's a commercial for a foot care product.
 * Alice has a cut on her foot and the camera zooms in on her foot to show the cut.
 * Inverted:
 * The work is filled with close-up shots of Alice's feet in heavy boots.
 * Alice is barefoot throughout the entire work, but her feet never appear on camera.
 * The camera pays a suspicious amount of attention to Alice's hands.
 * Subverted: Alice announces that she has taken her shoes off, and the camera zooms in on her feet to reveal that she is wearing socks...
 * Double Subverted: ... which she then takes off as well, exposing her bare feet.
 * Parodied:
 * Alice is a character in a costume drama; a scene in which she shows a man her semi-exposed ankle is regarded within the work as highly titillating.
 * Every man in the work turns completely into jelly at a mere glimpse of Alice's toes. Some even have near-orgasms at the mere mention of Alice's feet.
 * Deconstructed:
 * Alice is an aspiring actress who is aware that she has beautiful feet. She seeks out highly connected men with foot fetishes and tries to use her feet to advance her career.
 * Bob, a foot fetishist, begins dating Alice, who Does Not Like Shoes, and believes she'll be the perfect date and massage paradise until he finds that her feet, as a result of always being barefoot, are scarred, feel like leather, and are often covered in dirt.
 * Reconstructed:
 * Alice decides that it's flattering for men to like her feet, decides it's a harmless enough fetish, and has fun with it by keeping her feet well-pedicured and wearing sandals a lot.
 * Alice washed her feet and keeps them soft and clean.
 * Zig Zagged: Alice has a date with Bob, a foot fetishist. Just as he arrives, we see in long shot that Alice is barefoot, but when the camera zooms in on a close-up of her feet, she suddenly has closed-toe shoes on. The two then go to a party which has as its theme that everyone inside goes barefoot. They go inside, but Alice manages to keep her shoes on through the whole party. Alice and Bob then go back to her apartment. Bob offers Alice a foot massage, but she says no. Then just as Bob is about to give up, Alice suddenly takes her shoes off, holds her bare feet right up to the camera, and says "But you can suck my toes if you want!"
 * Averted: Alice does not appear barefoot in the work. Alternately, she does go barefoot in one scene, but the camera does not focus on her feet.
 * Enforced:
 * "Alice has really hot feet. Write in some scenes where her character is barefoot and then come up with a logical reason why the camera needs to focus on her feet."
 * "I'm Joss Whedon."
 * "I'm Quentin Tarantino."
 * Lampshaded: Alice models sandals on a home shopping show, commenting "This segment must be like porn to guys with foot fetishes."
 * Invoked: Alice distracts a guard, whom she knows to have a foot fetish, by taking off her shoes and showing him her bare feet. Or she may use this to try and pick up a date.
 * Exploited: Bob took pictures of Alice's feet and earned big bucks selling them to people with feet fetish.
 * Defied:
 * Alice is about to kick her shoes off, but remembering that Bob (whom she does not want sexual attention from) has a foot fetish, she decides to keep them on.
 * One member of the couple suggests this, but the other member refuses, feeling bare feet are gross.
 * Discussed: "If this were a Quentin Tarantino movie, Alice would be barefoot right now."
 * Conversed: "You ever notice how Firefly has lots of shots of River's bare feet? I bet the creator has a foot fetish."

Time to tiptoe back to the Foot Focus page.