Has anyone kept track of this (of course, its the internet, SOMEBODY must have kept track of this!)
What is the most common sexual position in films?
From what I’ve seen? Missionary. Directors love it because it is face to face, so you can have the characters talk and kiss in the same shot, and you can show them having sex but still be able to keep a PG-13 rating. It is the rare film that will show any other position.
Distant second is probably girl on top, shot from the back so you just see her back, hair and maybe a little side-boob. Sheets piled up around the waist. Has the benefit that you can use a body double since you don’t get a good look at her face.
Films? What’s a “film”?
Crude, early version of streaming.
Now, we’re talking mainstream films, right? If you include porn films, the question becomes (and is by the nature of the genre compelled to be) a lot more complicated.
I don’t know. The few such shots I’ve seen in HBO and SHO type series seem to like this position to show the boobs. But with better known actresses I think it is missionary to make it easier to fake.
Doggy seems to get little respect in film, for some reason. In Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl’s character was all offended at Seth Rogen suggesting it:
**Ben Stone: **Do you want to do it doggie style?
**Alison Scott: **You’re not going to fuck me like a dog.
**Ben Stone: **It’s doggie style. It’s just the style. We don’t have to go outside or anything.
I always thought that was weird, especially in my experience it is particularly enjoyable, as it generally tend to tighten things up, and brings the roof of the vagina in closer contact with the underside of the penis, stimulating the g-spot.
…and they say romance is dead 
If it’s portrayed as romantic sex, missionary style.
If it’s portrayed as lust, doggie style.
It was such an unexpected thing to see doggie style in Legends of the Fall that I laughed out loud during what was presumably meant to be a tender emotional moment.
I’d bet on woman on top, usually wearing a bra (or something “sexier” like a ragged t-shirt). It suggests sex but can be primly passed off as not-sex (as long as no active humping and groaning is involved), it allows TV-level cover-up of the nether regions, it sorta-vaguely explains why the woman isn’t bare from the waist up and it provides all the face-to-face needed for dialogue exchange.
That is, some will see it as Real Sex!, some will see it as a couple in bed, and almost everyone will look past the absurdities of a couple reaching the morning of of a hot night still considerably fresh and dressed.
Missionary position is far less ambiguous and thus not suitable for anything below an MA rating, and a woman lying there with a top on looks stupid.
Furthermore, lusty doggie style more often than not involves the person on the bottom being bent over something, like a table. That’s also the most popular method for portraying less-consensual sex.
Or just empty sex. I’m thinking of the father and son’s visits to the blonde hooker in “Monster’s Ball.” It was so cold, and empty, and bleak - put the money on the table, she she sheds her dress and braces against the wall, bang-bang-bang from behind, leave.
You guys also reminded me of the ‘association’ between the sex position and the context of the moment:
Missionary: ‘First Time’ experiences for one/both character, ‘romantic’ moments, and occasionally guys being a ‘two pump chump’. The enthusiasm of the woman is gauged by her grabbing/scratching the guy or wrapping her legs around him. If she’s not doing these things, she’s either a neutral participant or more passively going along with it (In Rome, Lucius Vorenus initially having sex with his wife while she just kind of lays there and grimaces.
Cowgirl: Tends to happen when sex is happening with prostitutes (Fargo) or just overall slutty/uninhibited women. But in general, this position seems to imply a woman that does this in a movie is a whore, either figuratively or literally. Or dangerous/conniving, to illustrate how ‘in control’ she is of the guy.
Doggy Style: Popular in rape scenes or where the woman is in some variously unwilling state. Often used to show how ‘dominating’ the guy is over the woman. Also seems the most common sex position for gay sex scenes (for obvious reasons, but hey, I’m sure gay guys have sex in other positions too, they just don’t seem to show it on TV/movies much).
Other sex positions: Generally reserved for ‘crazy’ couples ([IChoke*, or as part of a joke (Team America. I don’t see many/any sex scenes with couples that are lying sideways and spooning, though in real life it is a popular position among people I know (intimate, comfortable, I don’t have to do any of the work 
)
69
Especially in porn. But, I’ve seen it simulated in R rated films too.
Or rape as in “The Mountain Men”.
In the episode of Modern Family where the kids walk in on their parents having sex, I was amazed at how much of the scene was shown on screen and that Phil and Claire were clearly doing it “doggy style.”
So apparently it’s cool for broadcast TV in some situations.
I always thought in T&A flicks it was cowgirl. Nice view of breasts that way.
Woman on top, missionary, and side by side.
These are the general positions.
There are others out there, but far less often. For example you are hard pressed to see mammary intercourse, and no porn does not count.