That end table comes out of his elbow, by the way.
Our character is trying to show that he (usually a man, occasionally a woman) is cool, casual, and intent upon whatever is being said by their superiors. The character does this by artfully leaning in a doorframe, or flipping an armless chair around and sitting facing the chair-back. While not always taking part in the dialogue, they are engaged in the scene as an on-camera observer, and ready to interject an idea or quip.
If they are a Cowboy, Swashbuckler or Loveable Rogue, they will lean back in an armless chair with one or both feet propped up before them, taking care to keep one or both knees locked and their legs close together, typically with their boots crossed, to suggest manliness and a firm grasp on one's sexuality numerous leather belts and sidearms. Unlike the effete, Slouching Villain who wraps his arms over the armrest and splays his legs in an undignified fashion (perhaps to allow room for a Go-go Girl or Cat), the masculine Anti-Hero, by contrast, may rest one elbow/knee insouciantly over the head of his chair, while the other is held by his side, ready to reach for a weapon, usually chewing on manly finger-food in the meantime (or a cigar).
Generally, this behaviour isn't received well in the real world when one is being briefed by one's occupational or military superiors, regardless of established familiarity or friendship. You never see this in polite characters, at best, especially when standing, it's a form of Rebel Relaxation.
Optional: If seated, they may hunker down on an open stool with their knees out and their feet up, and lean far to their left, all the way back against the wall, as if to suggest rebellion against the laws of gravity itself. The "hunker down" pose is always a sign of a good guy that you'd like to have a beer with. They may tent their fingers above their head, lean forward with both elbows draped over a piece of furniture, stare upward into space with optional headgear covering their eyes, or fiddle with a prop, as if to indicate that they already know where the discussion is going.
If the character is actually a bad guy, compare Slouch of Villainy. The villain's underlings may do this pose, however, to indicate that they are a force to be reckoned with, especially if they are a hired killer with no particular loyalty to the Big Bad. If so, expect them to be lounging in the shadows from the feet up.
Contrast the Captain Morgan Pose, where one foot is placed forward in brazen display of one's balls leadership prowess.
As a purely practical consideration, having a character lean on something can often be a useful trick to improve the composition of a scene, as it plays down the fact that human beings are taller than they are wide, while television screens (especially widescreens) are wider than they are tall.
A comedic variation of this is to have the character lean to appear cool, then mess it up by falling over, or something similar.
Often used as a Modeling Pose. Unrelated to Leaning on the Fourth Wall.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Flo from the Progressive commercials does this when she is talking to the Badass Biker.
- There's a commercial currently out (think it's for 1-800-Contacts) where the presenter starts to lean on the furniture before there's anything there to lean on, and a table (along with some contacts) magically pops up beneath his elbow. He's just that cool.
Anime & Manga
- Fullmetal Alchemist's Ed Elric is rather fond of this. He once did it in a church, just to be extra rude.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), when Al discovers the new hideout of the refugee Ishvalans, Scar is seen leaning against a wall to deliver a few sparse comments on who Al is, that he's not a threat, and why their new hideout is (literally) underground.
- In Princess Tutu, Autor leans forward onto a piano when he's essentially bossing a character around. (Although this may be more because he's trying to assert himself more than a casual gesture.) He also has a tendency to lean against a wall with his arms crossed. Fakir also does this at least once or twice.
- Mirielle of Noir occasionally leans against her desk chair when talking about new jobs, and Kirika also does this at least once when deep in contemplation.
- Joe of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman could invariably be seen propping up a wall while the rest of the team sit attentively on a couch.
- Case Closed: When he firsts matches wits against Hattori Heiji, Shinichi leans against a bookcase to show how easy the case is to him. He then has to lean on the wall in a much less cool manner, as he starts to de-age again and begins to double over from the pain.
Arts
- Drinking Bacchus: In his zeal to drink more and more wine, Bacchus has become so drunk that he has to lean on a wooden barrel behind him for support.
- Alphonse Mucha: Quite a few of his most well-known posters of attractive women show them leaning an elbow on some piece of furniture or scenery — a Modeling Pose that in this case conveys an air of pensiveness.
- Seven Virtues: "Fortitude's" left arm leans on a side of the throne as a way to convey The Stoic part of her characterization. The fortitude to stand calmly against everything life throws at her.
Films — Animated
- When the Furious Five first confront Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda, Tigress faces up to him on a half-destroyed rope bridge over a bottomless chasm. While she balances carefully on the rope handholds, he plants his feet on one rope and casually leans against the other, arms crossed.
Films — Live-Action
- Han Solo is leaning on the furniture in the Mos Eisely saloon when introduced. All that's missing are the spurs on his boots.
- The Comedian does this in Watchmen while the very first meeting of the Watchmen are being briefed, complete with a newspaper and a flask of whiskey.
- In Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, part of Steve Martin's Training Montage involves learning how to casually approach and lean against a pillar while holding a cocktail.
- Dr. Moreau does this briefly in Island of Lost Souls.
- Superman II. General Zod leans against the wall and enjoys the sight of his Co-Dragons tearing up the White House and everyone in it. This stops when a soldier tries to shoot him through the window; he pulls them through the glass, takes their M16 rifle and starts gunning people down with a big grin on his face.
- Thor: Ragnarok: Thor briefly attempts to lean on Hulk's furniture when he appears behind Valkyrie to talk to her, but he quickly awkwardly rearranges his arms.
- Avengers: Infinity War: Tony Stark leans on the furniture in the New York Sanctum.
Strange: Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?
Literature
- P. G. Wodehouse's eccentric Guile Hero Psmith makes a habit of this, frequently leaning on mantelpieces and elevating his feet when sitting.
- In Horus Heresy, snarky sociopath Sevatar leans on walls and furniture fairly often, mostly to show his casual disregard of the speaker.
- Captive Prince: When Laurent and Damen reunite at a fraught time in their relationship, Laurent is casually leaning against a tent pole and delivers a cold "Hello, lover." Damen quickly notices that Laurent carefully invoked the trope to hide an injury.
Live-Action TV
- Game of Thrones: When he's not kicking ass, Bronn leans or sits (read: sprawls) on anything available. Walls, doorframes, pillars, tables, rocks...
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- Dr. McCoy does this all the time. When on The Bridge, he's always leaning against the captain's chair or the console or another convenient piece of furniture. He might be dipping into his stash of Saurian brandy a little more frequently than he lets on.
- Combined with Slouch of Villainy in the evil Mirror Universe, where the normally well-disciplined Starfleet Redshirts are seen leaning against the turbolift doorway, to give them a more thuggish air.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Will Riker does this incessantly. Due to the actor's physical build, this was probably originally to make sure that he was actually in frame for his scenes.note Riker's most iconic variant of this now has its own trope: the Captain Morgan Pose. He does it in plenty of other ways as well.
- Q was also quite fond of this trope, especially when he was using furniture that directly belonged to—and would undoubtedly anger—Picard.
- Not at all unusual in scenes between Mulder and Scully on The X-Files. A ten-inch height difference between David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson is probably the main reason for this. Scully Box or high heels were also employed.
- In the Las Vegas CSI series, Nick Stokes and Sara Sidle do this frequently, though they straighten up if someone other than their CSI team comes into range.
- The doctors (particularly Chase and Kutner) from House tend to do this during the differential diagnosis. Then again, so does House himself, regardless of location, so he's probably not too worried about them disrespecting his authority. He also has a good excuse, missing part of his leg and all.
- Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was fond of this. When he made the transition to Angel and was rendered incorporeal, the actor mentioned how tiring it was not being allowed to lean against things during shooting.
- All three presenters on Top Gear tend to lean on the cars they are discussing or reviewing.
- Manny from Black Books swings a chair around and sits on it, unfortunately crushing his bits in the process. "Sat on myself to some degree there..." Later on, he does it again *High-Pitched Voice* "that was a particularly bad one..."
- In Fawlty Towers, Basil casually puts out a hand to lean on a door, which is opened, causing Basil to fall into the room.
- In the pilot for Happy Days Richie leans on the doorframe of his date's apartment when he's talking to her outside. Which is also the side of the door the doorbell is on.
- Avon of Blake's 7 liked to lean on most things, particularly when talking to people. His intention was probably to unnerve them.
- In the first episode of Red Dwarf Rimmer (apparently still not used to being a hologram) leans on a console and goes through it.
- Robin Hood: Guy of Gisbourne tends to do this, as pointed out several times in the DVD commentaries. It has been jokingly suggested that it's to minimize the (sizable) difference in height between Richard Armitage and Keith Allen.
- Olly in The Thick of It tries this in Malcolm's Number 10 office. It does not go down well: "Feet off the furniture, you Oxbridge twat. You're not on a punt now."
- Malcolm's Bastard Understudy Jamie does this habitually but gets away with it because most people are terrified of him.
- Friends: Done in a Not-So-Innocent Whistle kind of way by Chandler Bing in an attempt to see if the maid had stolen Monica's bra. When she turns around and sees him, he insists "I'm leaning. This is where I lean,"
- Conversations between Don Draper and Roger Sterling in Mad Men tend to involve one or the other standing and the other Leaning on the Furniture (both Jon Hamm and John Slattery are pretty tall, so it probably helps keep them in-frame). When Bert Cooper is around, it often ends up looking like a round of "Standing, Sitting, Leaning" from Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
- Horatio Hornblower:
- In "The Even Chance", when midshipmen Horatio, Archie and Clayton discuss Horatio's upcoming duel, they all lean on a cannon. They are teenagers, which might explain a lot; however, they are alone and it's employed for the sake of the composition of the scene. Doing it in front of their superiors in the Royal Navy in Regency England would get them to kiss a gunner's daughter very quickly.
- In "Retribution", Lieutenants Kennedy and Bush lean on a very high chair when they are negotiating the conditions of a truce with Senor Ortega, a commander of the fort they captured. It's meant to show Senor Ortega who's got the upper hand, but considering that by this time they have very little respect for their Acting Captain, it could be done for Mr Buckland's benefit as well.
- In Only Fools and Horses, one of the most infamous moments of the series has Del attempt to do this while out on the pull, only to fail to realise that the barman lifted the hatch while he wasn't looking, causing him to fall straight through the bar.
- The Professionals. In "Servant Of Two Masters", Bodie and Doyle are leaning on Cowley's car, causing them to stumble when he abruptly drives off. Bodie then smirks that he got his own back by using the opportunity to plant a Tracking Device on the car.
Theater
- Draco Malfoy in A Very Potter Musical constantly tries to do this, usually falling over what he tries to lean on.
Video Games
- While he is rarely seen inside the Narumi Detective Agency, the title character of Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, when he is seen (usually in cutscenes), is always, without fail, leaning against the stair railing.
- In Shelby's segments of Heavy Rain, the player can have Shelby lean dramatically against the nearest available surface as he asks his questions.
- As the page image shows, Robo-Ky of Guilty Gear is fond of this... so much so that his Swiss-Army Weapon has a "table
◊" setting.
Web Animation
- RWBY: Parodied in Volume 7 when General Ironwood interrupts the heroes' training to instruct them. While the rest of the group are serious and attentive, Yang interjects an air of casual attentiveness by using young Oscar's shoulder as a leaning prop, much to his silent surprise. He doesn't object, so they remain in this position for the entire conversation. Yang lost some of her adventurous, thrill-seeker personality after losing her arm, but this moment is one of several scenes in Volume 7 that show she has recovered enough for some of this personality to return.
Web Original and Webcomics
- David Jackson does this in a flashback during v1 of Survival of the Fittest, leaning back in his chair so it rises onto its back legs, and putting his legs on the table. However, this wasn't so much to be rude as to relax, as he was exhausted from practice earlier. Amusingly, he is sitting back to back with Jack O'Connor, his teammate, so not only is his chair resting against Jack's, but they converse (with a Shout-Out to Battle Royale) without even facing each other.
- It's only for a moment, but in Kickassia, Ma-Ti leans against the wall during a dream sequence.
- Emil of Stand Still, Stay Silent does this a lot, but it has an unfortunate habit of backfiring, whether by breaking the furniture in question or inviting a vengeful ghost to take it as disrespect.
Western Animation
- Danny tried this once in Danny Phantom by leaning his hand on a tree to play off as a cool guy to his crush Paulina. Unfortunately, his nervousness triggered his invisibility, causing his arm to go intangible. He came crashing down, much to his embarrassment.
- In the DVD commentary for the second season of The Venture Brothers, Doc and Jackson point out an odd moment where Brock leans against the wall for a single second before walking away from it. They joke that it was just to show that he's cool.
- In one episode of Teen Titans, Beast Boy tries to woo a couple of girls at a pizza parlor, and tries leaning against the table. Unfortunately he puts his hand in the pizza and slips.
- In Phineas and Ferb, while trying to look cool, Irving leans against a lamp post to hit on Isabella. However, the lamppost was apparently moved, and he falls to the floor.
