Top 10 Famous Kisses

Ah, the kiss. The strange ritual of pressing lips together, exchanging breath and a small amount of spittle while clicking teeth and touch tongues. Sounds disgusting, but we love to do it. So much so you spend about 2 weeks of your life performing this romantic act. So just what are the top ten most famous kisses?

10. Spider-man Upside-Down Kiss
How many young boys (and men) get to live out their fantasies watching Spider-Man swing through the streets of New York City? A few more fantasies were created by the upside-down kiss between Spider-Man and Mary Jane, played by Toby Maguire and Kristen Dunst, respectively. The fact that this kiss was between a superhero and the mildly attractive Kristen Dunst (odd teeth and a large head), who looks her best in the scene, and you have a fairly original and exciting kiss. Rain and a wet t-shirt certainly help.

9. First Homosexual Kiss on Screen
Peter Finch and Murray Head have the distinction of performing the fist homosexual kiss on the silver screen. In the 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday, directed by John Schlesinger, a medium close-up shot was filmed of the two men kissing, which was at first planned only to be only an embrace. Someone screamed at a director’s screening of the film, much to John Schlesinger’s consternation. It turned out to be Finch’s wife. Finch was later asked about the kiss and replied, “I did it for England.”

8. Museum Kiss valued at $1,260
In 1977, Ruth van Herpen visited an art museum in Oxford, England and made the mistake of kissing a painting. The painting was by Jo Baer. Ruth left a lipstick smear in her wake and she was ordered by law to pay the restoration costs of $1,260. She claimed to kiss the “cold” artwork in order to cheer it up. Others saw this as an excuse for art vandalism.

7. Sexual Harassment Kiss
In 1996 a six-year-old named Johnathan Prevette, a first grade student in North Carolina kissed a classmate innocently on the cheek. His teacher reported him to the principal, Lisa Horne, who ordered him to spend the day in detention. While this is asinine, this isn’t what made this kiss famous. After appearing on a local radio show, the mother’s story spread until the U.S. Department of Education rewrote the sexual harassment guidelines to omit kisses by first graders. Our tax dollars at work, people. To be fair to Johnathan he stated the girl had requested the kiss.

6. MTV Kiss
In 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Madonna performed “Like a Virgin.” At the end of the performance Britney and Madonna ended the musical number with a French kiss and a second, less scandalous kiss, occurred between Madonna and Christina. Proud moments for all involved, I’m sure. Their kids will love watching this for years to come. Suffice to say it out-shined the awards show.

5. First Kiss on Film
The first kiss to be recorded in a motion picture happened in 1896 in a film by Thomas Edison. The film was aptly named The Kiss, and was between John C. Rice and actress May Irwin. The running time was under 30 seconds as it was filmed for display in a nickelodeon. Not the most attractive couple, more than 30 seconds would have been bad.

4. The Kiss - Sculpture by Francois Auguste Rodin
The passionate love of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta was a theme which Rodin used to inspire The Kiss. Although it was originally intended to be part of the Gates of Hell, Rodin did not feel that it fit and removed the figures to make them an individual statue. The embracing couple depicted in the sculpture appeared originally as part of a group of reliefs decorating Rodin’s bronze portal The Gates of Hell, commissioned for a planned museum of art in Paris. The couple were later removed from the Gates and replaced with another pair of lovers. Rodin described his sculpture as follows, “complete in itself and artificially set apart from the surrounding world.”

3. Sleeping Beauty, the Kiss of Awakening
A timeless fairy tale and a timeless kiss. The kiss first appeared in Charlies Perrault’s version of the fairy tale in 1697 in “La Belle au Bois Dormant.” In earlier versions of this tale, the prince isn’t so charming when he rapes her before leaving the scene. Thankfully the fairy tale has been modified to the more romantic version we are familiar with. Benevolent fairies remove the curse of death upon Princess Aurora and change it from death to a deep sleep from which Aurora can be awakened only by love’s first kiss. Romantic, climatic and perfect timing make this a kiss to remember.

2. Life Magazine VJ-Day Kiss
Many people will think the world’s most famous kiss was captured on film in New York City. This famous kiss photo was taken on V-J Day in Times Square. The photo was plastered all over newspapers and was seen as a symbol of a new era of peace, love and hope. The truth of the matter was that this soldier was kissing every woman in the square and this nurse in particular slapped the sailor.
A sculpture commemorating the kiss is located in Sarasota Florida and in Times Square.

1. The Betrayal Kiss of Judas
Judas Iscariot used a kiss to identify Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. The high priest Caiaphas paid Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus with a kiss. Jesus was then arrested, condemned to death and crucified. God used his Son’s death as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world and Christianity was born.