Cheshire Cat Grin: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:aiw cheshire cat.jpg|link=Alice in Wonderland (film)|frame|[[Nightmare Fuel|Eep.]]]]

 

{{quote|'''[[Ninja|Kaede]]:''' That's a pretty difficult-to-trust smile.

 

A smile is supposed to be a reassuring expression, indicating happiness and complete absence of angst and danger. If someone's smiling, it means all is well with the world...

 

 

The Cheshire Cat Grin is an expression made by a [[Tricksters|Trickster]] who's up to something, and "something" never bodes well for the person he or she is smiling at. Usually, it involves their total humiliation—occasionally it involves mortal danger. A typical scenario runs something like this:

Strangely, it's usually done by heroes who have a [[Zany Scheme]] in mind, rather than by villains, who tend to prefer the [[Psychotic Smirk]] or the [[Slasher Smile]]. Heroes and heroines who are slightly eccentric -- [[Cloudcuckoolander|or slightly deranged]]—favour the Cheshire Cat Grin. If it's an anime, expect a [[Cat Smile]] instead. If this smile is a permanent feature, it's a subtrope of [[Frozen Face]]; if it's ''cut into'' the character's face, it's a [[Glasgow Grin]].

If you ever see someone with the Cheshire Cat Grin in real life, vacate the premises before you can discover what they're smiling about. Or, for that matter, how their face manages to do that.

 

* [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] does this quite a bit, particularly when sizing up Mikuru for a new outfit, or dragging Kyon into trouble.

* Gengar, from ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'', tends to have either this or a [[Slasher Smile]] depending on how it's drawn. Either way, it is constantly worn and only twice in the anime Gengar actually frowned.

* Kisuke Urahara from ''[[Bleach]]'', particularly before unleashing one of his [[Training from Hell|training regimes]] on someone.

** Shinji Hirako has an [https://web.archive.org/web/20100830222413/http://manga.animea.net/bleach-chapter-184-page-8.html even more classic version of a cheshire cat grin].

* [[Trickster Archetype|Deviant genius]] Hiruma from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' has this as one of his default expressions, to the point where those new to the series—or complete non-fans—can [[Loads and Loads of Characters|identify him]] as 'the one with the teeth.'

* Road Kamelot of ''[[D.Gray-man|D Gray Man]]'', several times. Along with some of the AKUMA. Hell, the Earl probably counts as well.

* Captain Gotoh in the ''[[Patlabor]]'' manga specializes in these wonderfully awful toothy grins.

 

* Vilmarh Grahrk from the ''[[Star Wars]]: Republic'' comics seems to have one of these on his face [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/b/b4/Vilmarh.jpg all the time]. Considering his nature, it may be considered a [[Slasher Smile]].

** Topped by Lono, whose presence is often defined by his grin. There are many times throughout the comic where all you can see his smile, shining in the darkness.

* The Joker. King of this trope.

* Trolls in the Franco-Belgian comic ''[[Lanfeust]]'' often make those, usually when they are about to brutally slaughter people or cause heavy property damage (which is most of the time).

* From ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]'', the anti-mutant militant hate group [[Politically-Incorrect Villain|The Right]] had mooks with [[Powered Armor]] with big grins painted on the faces of the helmets, presumably intended as psychological warfare.

 

* Jack Skellington from ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' has this mixed with [[Slasher Smile]] as his default smile. Sally [[media:Sally cheshire cat grin 6839.jpg|gets a good one]] when she tricks the doctor into eating the poisoned soup.

* ''[[The Machinist]]'': Ivan does a particularly disturbing rendition of this trope.

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]:'' Right before taking vicious or manipulative action, Captain Jack Sparrow often sports an evil, toothy smile. In the screenplay for Dead Man's Chest, a "Cheshire grin" is mentioned in Jack's direction during a particularly loathsome act of betrayal.

 

== Literature ==

** There are several possible explanations, but very little info to support any of them. On another note, the novel might be also a [[Trope Maker]], because most of its incarnations stem from the Sir John Tenniel's [https://web.archive.org/web/20121115121810/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Cheshire_Cat_Tenniel.jpg/250px-Cheshire_Cat_Tenniel.jpg.png iconic illustrations of the Cheshire Cat].

* From the nonfiction desktop book ''Murphy's Law for Lawyers'': "A man who can smile in a crisis is a man who has thought of someone to blame it on."

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** "It was a smile like the one you find on black and orange striped creatures prowling through the jungle looking for someone to smile at."

* Ford Prefect from ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' is said in the first book to smile in this way, "a little too broadly, giving people the unnerving impression he was about to go for their neck."

* Some girls have [[When She Smiles|wonderful smiles]]. Then there's Kouma of ''[[The Longing of Shiina Ryo]]''.

* In ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'', the Grinch gets one when he thinks up his "wonderful, awful idea" to steal Christmas from the Whos.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Justified (TV series)|Justified]]'' has Detroit mob lieutenant Robert Quarles, who has a big, unsettling smile.

 

 

* Done superbly in the [[David Tennant]] version of ''[[Hamlet]]''. "O villain! Smiling, damned villain...", saying this all while sporting a spine-chilling smile. We know his sanity is long, long gone.

 

== Video Games ==

* The [[Grimmification]] of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', ''[[American McGee's Alice]]'', naturally stars the Cheshire Cat, albeit a ''much'' more insane and macabre version of him. His Cheshire Cat Grin also has bit of [[Slasher Smile]].

* Travis Touchdown of ''[[No More Heroes]]'', particularly whenever he enters a fight while in a good mood. The loading screen for [[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle|the second game]] even shows a small picture of him sporting one.

 

== Web Animation ==

* Whenever The Cheat from ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' smiles, it's this kind of smile. Things often backfire on him, though.

 

== Web Comics ==

* The [[Mad Scientist]] in ''[[Books Don't Work Here]]'' tends to smile like this when he is up to something, and whether it will work or not he always tries to be up to something.

* Rocky, from ''[[Lackadaisy Cats]]'' seems to have this as his default expression. His cousin wears a combination of this and [[Slasher Smile]]. [http://tracyjb.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d154crs Like so.]

* Shadowchild from ''[[Digger]]'' has smiled like this twice. Both times it went badly for the other guy.

* George from ''[[Johnny Wander]]'' is always depicted with one of these. Except one time when he grimaced and it was basically the same thing but upside down. [http://www.johnnywander.com/comics/128 Even his tombstone has that grin.]

** [[Mad Scientist|Sparks]] tend to wear a huge grin when they've got an idea. Considering the stuff they usually invent, this is seldom good news for anyone in town.

* {{spoiler|Dagre}} from ''[[The Meek]]'' sports one...kind of. It's more of his jowls drooping, giving an absolutely terrifying grin appearance.

* Subverted/defied with Florence Ambrose in ''[[Freefall]]''—her natural smile is a face full of teeth, since she's an anthropomorphic "Bowman's Wolf." She has to remember to smile with her lips closed to avoid this trope—though she's not above invoking it...

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Ruby Quest]]'', Red has one of these for half his appearances. Ruby keeps just managing to miss it when they get particularly freaky.

* [[Doctor Steel]]'s robots all have huge creepy grins.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The Grinch in [[Chuck Jones]]' screen adaptation of ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (animation)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'' when he gets the wonderful, awful idea to... well, steal Christmas.

** This could be arguably [[Chuck Jones]]' [[Signature Style]], when he directed ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'', both characters would smile in the exact same manner when they hit upon a new scheme. As well as the poor schmuck in ''[[One Froggy Evening]]''.

* In the penultimate episode of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', a character named Cheshire appears, wearing a large mask with a permanent Cheshire Cat Grin on it. One of her powers was to turn invisible except for the eyes and the grin, much like the cat in ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]''.

** She's in [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|the comics]], too, minus that power. For the record, her name is Jade Nguyen, and she has done things justifying that grin (like nuking [[Qurac]]).

* [[Played for Laughs]] on the ''[[Dexter's Laboratory|Dexters Laboratory]]'' sub-series ''Justice Friends''. Major Glory and Valhallen accidentally break the TV while Krunk is watching TV Puppet Pals. They try to unpress his [[Berserk Button]] by offering to make up for it. Cue grin.

* Dr. Bender, the [[Depraved Dentist]] from ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', and his son Wendell are constantly giving these grins.

* Snoopy in ''[[The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show]]'' does this once, complete with the ability to vanish.

** He has this in the original ''[[Peanuts]]'' comic as well; he calls it his "Cheshire Beagle" trick. He does it a handful of times over the course of the strip.

* The animated [[Beetlejuice (animation)|Beetlejuice]] often grins broadly when scheming. Bonus points for the unsettlingness of [[British Teeth|his gross green teeth]], complete with half-chewed bug bits.

* Henry and June (the latter more often) do this in ''[[KaBlam!]]!''

* T-Bone from [[Swat Kats]] donned this grin occasionally, almost uniquely amongst the characters of that series.

 

== Real Life ==

* Chimpanzees "smile" by baring their teeth as a way of warning potential challengers that this chimp is not to be messed with. This has led to more than a few people getting mauled, because, hey, the monkey is smiling at 'em! And ain't he just like a little person? Maybe he wants a hug! No. When a chimp smiles at you, he's telling you to fuck off. By the way, those teeth? They go for the face. And chimps are ''strong''. [[Fluffy the Terrible|Mister Peanutpants]] does not want to be your friend, kids.

* Former Australian Treasurer Peter Costello was famous for his Parliamentary savaging of his opponents in debate, of which his Cheshire Cat grin would be a prime indicator to get out of the way of his victims.

* The [http://www.troublemakerstudios.com/ logo] of Troublemaker Studios.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Smile Tropes]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Mouthful of Index]]