"Sex on the beach
We don't mind sand in our stilettos"
We don't mind sand in our stilettos"
— Katy Perry, California Gurls
When a man loves a woman, one way they'll show their love is an intimate, passionate kiss on a beach, often with ocean waves splashing over them. Often done in homage or parody of From Here to Eternity's Signature Scene, which is the Trope Codifier.
Usually a subtrope of The Big Damn Kiss. Not to be confused with kissing the beach; that'd be Kissing the Ground.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Parodied in a 2017 commercial
for AT&T Unlimited Plus data streaming that features Mark Wahlberg describing what it's like to live in a world with "unlimited" access to different movie and tv genres (like westerns, sci-fi, and police procedural). As he mentions "unlimited romance," he appears on a tropical beach surrounded by dozens of couples making out in the surf and the sand.
Anime and Manga
- Cross Ange: When Ange gives Tusk a Slap-Slap-Kiss after he returns from what she was sure was his death, they're on the beachside. They share Their First Time there as well shortly after.
- Miki and Yuu from Marmalade Boy share their first official kiss in a beach during the sunset after finishing a long and tearful conversation about their pasts.
- Almost at the end of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, April and Fireball almost got one but were interrupted by an attack.
- Episode 9 of Sonic X (Amy On The Beach or The last Resort if you are watching the 4Kids version) has a scene where Amy Rose has a fantasy in which her and Sonic are having fun at the beach and do a kiss in front of a sunset.
- There's one at the end of YuYu Hakusho between Yuusuke and Keiko, who had been dancing around the issue the entire series and had just been reunited, after Yusuke spent years in the Demon World while Keiko stayed in Earth and finished school. Especially notable since the Japanese are shy about kissing in public, and because Keiko is the one who initiated it.
Comic Books
- This rather crowded beach scene◊ is how the MAD parody From Eternity Back to Here represented the movie's Signature Scene. (This was one of the earliest appearances in MAD of the inherently funny word "potrzebie".)
- The Girl from the Sea: Shared between Morgan Kwon and Keltie the Selkie when they first meet as teenagers, there's a missed opportunity after they meet again on land, and over the roughly two weeks they're together they share such kisses many, many times.
Fan Works
- A sidestory of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines ends with one between Elite Four member Lorelei and her boyfriend Frey.
Films — Animated
- In The Little Mermaid, after Triton gives Ariel legs (and a sparkly dress) she runs to Eric, who's still on the beach after the showdown with Ursula, and they share one, which transitions right into their wedding scene.
- In Shrek 2, Shrek and Fiona parody From Here to Eternity's kiss during their honeymoon, but the waves bring a red-haired mermaid instead of Fiona prompting the ogre princess to get angry and throw her back into the water where she gets eaten by sharks.
Films — Live-Action
- Parodied in Airplane!, with Ted and Elaine ending up festooned with seaweed, as one of several flashbacks to explain their backstory. The scene in From Here to Eternity is so famous that when it was spoofed in Airplane!, the filmmakers didn't know what exactly they were spoofing.
- Katniss and Peeta share one in the movie version of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, though it's toned down significantly compared to the book.
- Mamma Mia! has Sophie and Sky do this during "Lay All Your Love on Me"... not too long before Sky's groomsmen come out of the water and pull him away for his bachelor party.
- In the Eddie Murphy remake of The Nutty Professor, Sherman is watching From Here to Eternity as he dozes off and has a nightmare where, while doing the scene with Carla Purdy, he unwittingly buries her into the sand because of his enormous weight.
- Summer School ends like this. The twist is that their dog joins in on the kiss, which wasn't planned, but they kept it in.
Literature
- Katniss and Peeta share one in The Hunger Games' Catching Fire. They go at it for quite a while before they are interrupted.
- In Lolita, Humbert attempts to do this (and more) with Lolita but their awkward positioning and the sand getting into their clothes cause the scene to lose all sex appeal for him.
Live Action TV
- Buffyverse: Not on the beach but Angel kisses Buffy by the seaside after becoming human again in "I Will Remember You".
- Carol Burnett and Steve Lawrence did it on The Carol Burnett Show in a film parody called "From Here to Maternity," featuring one huge wave.
- Chuck has its final shot with Sarah and Chuck kissing on a beach, and fading out to the title.
- Sonny and Brenda from General Hospital had a completely unironic one of these. It's probably one of the most famous moments in the show's 40+ year history.
- Lucifer (2016): Lucifer and Chloe's First Kiss happens when they're standing on a beach having just solved the case of the week.
- In episode 9 of Our Flag Means Death, a freshly shaven Blackbeard kisses Stede on the docks at sunset, after telling him how he feels about him, and suggests faking their deaths to run off together.
- Drake and Morwenna have a Reunion Kiss on the beach in Poldark. The scene is shot with swelling music, romantic camera angles and a slow motion run towards one another. A textbook The Big Damn Kiss if there ever was one.
- Lito and Hernando do this in Sense8 series 2, complete with the waves crashing over them in a deliberate homage to From Here to Eternity which is one of Lito's favourite movies.
- Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca did a rather lengthy one on Your Show of Shows. (The beach scene itself starts 5 minutes into the 2nd link. Too bad the audio doesn't sync up with the video.)
- The O.C.: Alex and Marissa are on their first date–watching the tides change on the beach, which has symbolic significance for Alex. Alex notes that the tide has changed, and she and Marissa kiss, marking the start of Marissa's first (and only) same-sex romance.
Music
- In The Killers' "Bones" music video, the From Here to Eternity scene is recreated with skeletons.
- The video for David Bowie's "China Girl" briefly paid tribute to the From Here to Eternity scene. The original, never-shown-on-MTV version was done sans bathing suits, which caused a hubbub.
- Holland has a beach date with his boyfriend in "Neverland". They do not kiss on the beach, but do so in the next scene.
Video Games
- Baldur's Gate III: If the player character romanced Shadowheart after her conversion to Selûnite faith in Act 2, her succeeding romance scene would involve accompanying her to a moonlit beach to go Skinny Dipping (as she previously revealed that she can't swim). Not long after, the two would proceed to consummate their relationship by the beach.
- Galaxy Angel II: On Kahlua/Tequila's route, Kazuya can have his First Kiss with Kahlua while they're having a date at the beach resort, while Kahlua is blissfully drunk and cuts loose on being affectionate to him.
- In Xenoblade Chronicles 1 when Seven is reunited with their love interest, it is on a beach, and they celebrate with a kiss.
Western Animation
- The Doug episode "Doug Throws a Party" has Doug fantasizing reenacting the famous "From Here To Eternity" scene with Patti.
- The Simpsons:
- Homer and Marge parody the famous "From Here To Eternity"-kiss in the episode "And Maggie Makes Three", with Homer adding a little more sand in his swim short afterwards.
- Done by Itchy and Scratchy in the episode "HOMR", after which Itchy puts a shark in his place while Scratchy closed his eyes.
