Glasses Pull: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A trope used extensively in B movies from the 50's and 60's. The capital-h Hero or scientist, to emphasize a point he's trying to make, takes his glasses off or puts them on before delivering a melodramatic line.

 

'''[[Hollywood Nerd]]:''' But you ''can't'' use a nuclear missile, General! (whips off his glasses) It's immoral! }}

 

 

A Glass Pull should not be confused with an [[Ass Pull]].

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* Parodied when Jack In the Box introduced their bacon and cheddar potato wedges and jalapeno poppers, running a television ad featuring a "doctor" extolling the wonderful health benefits of these new appetizers. He enters every single shot with his glasses on, then dramatically whips them off as he delivers his conclusions, at least five or six times total.

** And is never actually seen putting them back on during the course of said commercial.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Chichiri from ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''... sort of. He wears a mask.

** A smiley face mask. Made to look like his face. Before it was heavily scarred.

* Vash of ''[[Trigun]]'' does this now and then. When those [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] are put on, you know things are switching from humor to drama. Notable examples include his fight with the Nebraska Family after they almost kill innocent people, and his first run-in with Legato.

** And not just putting them on - Yoko pulls off her {{spoiler|"teacher"}} glasses (with an audible "schwing" sound) just before going to town on two Ganmen post-[[Time Skip]].

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* General Rogard does it when Kent suggests using a nuclear strike on ''[[The Iron Giant]]''.

* Cobra Bubbles on ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' first takes off his shades when he tells Nani that he's "the one they call when things go wrong".

** The removal of the glasses was kind of a callback to earlier when she asked if she could remove his glasses. He was hesitant, as the blind gaze tends to bother people.

* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' parodies the hell out of this in one scene where some form of eyewear is removed for basically every line.

** That one scene is the peak of it, but most of the times the detectives speak they remove some eyewear. However, for that scene, the detectives had multiple lines- so they were wearing riot helmets as well as their sunglasses, just for the sake of this trope.

* Played for laughs in the first ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' film. Doctor Malcolm approaches [[Road Apples|triceratops feces]], pulls his glasses and says, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JFfN5pKzFU That is one big pile of shit.]"

* In ''[[Demon Hunters]]'' there is the part where Silent Jim whips off his sunglasses only to have another pair underneath.

* Played ''achingly'' straight in ''The Chronicles of Riddick''. Granted, with Riddick's sensitive eyes he has to put his goggles on when it gets too bright, but the amount of dramatic taking off of said goggles is excessive to the point of unintentional [[Running Gag]]. Seriously. Watch the movie and count how many times he takes them off or puts them on. [[So Bad It's Good|It's hysterical.]]

* ''[[Sucker Punch]]'': When either Blue or Doctor Gorski don their reading glasses to take a closer look at something, you know they are about to make an important discovery.

* Done almost straight in ''[[Attack of the Killer Tomatoes]]'' when the scientist is examining a killer tomato the size of a beach ball.

* In ''[[Batman Begins]]'', Jonathan Crane takes off his glasses quite frequently. [[Word of God]] says this was done intentionally to bring emphasisis to [[Cillian Murphy]]'s eerie [[Blue Eyes]].

** Lucius Fox pulls his glasses to emphasize his [[Ironic Echo]] when it's revealed that Fox and Bruce swiped Wayne Enterprises out from under Earle.

 

== Literature ==

** "Dr. McNeill paused here and removed his glasses, as if a blurring of the objective world might make the reminiscent vision clearer."

 

* [[Inverted Trope]]: Happens at the end of most [[The Teaser|teasers]] of ''[[CSI: Miami]]'', as Horatio Caine gives his horrendously (and hilariously) over-the-top [[Quip to Black]]. Cue [[The Who]]'s [[Big Yes|YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!]] Special mention goes to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d54Ok6Uz_A this scene], which features Horatio taking off his glasses as he's coming out of a car...for the sole purpose of pulling this ''mere seconds later'' as the car [[Unflinching Walk|explodes behind him.]] Honestly, Caine's version of this trope probably deserves its own page by now. There are references to/jokes about it ''everywhere''. The glasses pull has become such a signature for the character that when A&E began running reruns of the series, their promos had the announcer giving the name of the series and announcing its times...while all they showed on screen was the sunglasses sitting on a table.

** Also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo&feature=related parodied] by [[Jim Carrey]].

** And in [http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/253/a/6/magneto_by_derlaine8-d3jyrxd.jpg this image] on Deviantart, but transferred to ''[[X-Men]] First Class''.

** Also parodied in Sea World California's sea lion show: "Sea Lions Live", which is a rather amusing parody of popular TV shows of past and present played by the trainers and Seymour and Clyde, the staring sea lions. In one particular segment, they manage to parody CSI, CSI: Miami AND CSI: NY in rapid succession as the trainer wears the vest emblazoned with SLSI (Sea Lion Scene Investigation). On part stands out as one of the best parts of the show as they try to solve the murder and kidnap of a fish:

'''YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!''' *cue imagination montage as trainer and sea lion shuffle across the stage, striking poses as the sea lion grins and winks at the audience. }}

** Also done [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwGlL3hxaCY here] by ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''.

** NTSF:SD:SUV:: is basically a parody of all tech-driven cop shows ever, but has a special place in its heart for CSI:Miami. Is it any surprise the intro features lead character and Horatio Caine expy Trent Hauser doing standard and Caine pulls in the space of a split second?

* On ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'', the vice principal always wears the same white suit and sunglasses (he's a parody of Crockett and Tubbs on ''[[Miami Vice]]''). If he shows up in an episode, you can guarantee he will whip them off before the end of his dialogue, then replace them and walk away as he finishes speaking. Truly hilarious when he has many scenes in a single episode. Will also use them to glare dramatically after, yes, whipping them off.

'''Joey''': Congratulations, Jess. You are now a sophisticated intellectual. }}

* On ''[[The Daily Show]]'' and ''[[The Colbert Report]]'', people do this all the time, sometimes putting on glasses beforehand in order to whip them off. At one point, Stephen Colbert actually put on a pair of glasses ''over the one he was already wearing,'' citing the theory that, if taking off glasses automatically makes things serious, putting on another pair should lighten the mood.

* In ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', "City Limits", Tom Servo notes that Kim Catrall's character in the movie is only wearing glasses so she can pull them off dramatically.

** Also lampshaded in "All the Way" when Xander/Anya start snogging passionately to celebrate their engagement.

'''Giles:''' Tell no one. }}

** In the season 2 finale, a smirking Angelus cleans Giles glasses for him while he's tied to a chair and tortured by having his fingers broken.

** Noticably averted in the finale of Season 5. When Giles {{spoiler|murders Ben}} he makes a point of putting his glasses ''on'', as if refusing to spare himself the horror of what he's about to do.

* On ''[[The West Wing]]'', Josh Lyman threatens a Congressman over a vote.

** President Bartlet also has a tendency to whip off his glasses whenever Leo tells him anything dramatic.

** Seeing as Romo has rather piercing eyes, it's clear he does this for effect (along with everything else he does).

* [[Da Chief|Cowley]] from ''[[The Professionals]]'' does this with his specs.

* Richard Hammond of ''[[Top Gear]]'' does this during the American Road Trip special, upon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2syY12OPkwI#t=7m03s seeing New Orleans one year after Hurricane Katrina.]

'''Janitor''': (removes glasses) Or can we? }}

** Starting with the scene in question being set at night....

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'': guest Alec Baldwin, on Mike Myers' "How to Be a Handsome Actor" instructional, demonstrates the fine points of spinning in an office chair to face the camera, whipping off one's glasses, signing a paper without looking at it, and picking up a ringing phone and immediately talking into it.

* ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' DCI Keats ''loves'' doing this with his glasses - mainly to look cool, but also to underscore how much more human he appears without the glasses.

* A variant was used on ''Airwolf'', where Stringfellow Hawke would pull off his glasses and not say a thing.

* In a ''[[Mr. Show]]'' sketch, a documentary show host takes his glasses off whenever he makes a statement. When the camera cuts back to him, they're back on again.

* In one episode of ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'', Oscar Goldman is introduced to a girl who claims to be able to read minds. She demonstrates her power by telling Oscar exactly what he's thinking, and the surprised Oscar, to show just how surprised he is, whips off his glasses.

* In 'The Sky Lift' episode (season 5) of ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'', protagonist Larry does this when accusing Richard Lewis' nurse of hiding Mickey Mantle's 500 homerun ball inside her ample vagina.

 

== Music Videos ==

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QS0q3mGPGg Winning], during the call and response [[Auto Tune the News|Schmoyoho]] removes his shades to reveal a second pair.

 

* Jim Gaffigan has a bit about this; he describes Generals in old sci-fi films whipping off their glasses to make ominous pronouncements: "My God...* takes off glasses* ...I can't see a thing without these. That's probably why I wear them..."

 

== Video Games ==

* Shi-Long Lang and Shi-na of ''[[Ace Attorney]] Investigations: Miles Edgeworth''. Sometimes, their sunglasses would appear on, right before a cocky remark.

 

* ''[[Bigger Than Cheeses]]'': [http://www.biggercheese.com/index.php?comic=701 This infamous parody strip] singlehandedly catapulted the ''CSI Miami'' opening across the internet in a vengeful maelstrom of [[Image Boards|infernal]] [[Memetic Mutation|memetic virulence]]. Note the [[Crowning Moment of Funny|second pair of sunglasses]] in the third panel.

* Christian Weston Chandler [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9nkN1AHKD0 does this frequently] in ''Webcomic/Sonichu''.

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' uses this [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2037 as a way to deliver some really bad math.]

* ''[[Grrl Power]]'' hangs a [http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/479 lampshade on it.]

 

== Web Original ==

** [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|Looks like the rules (puts glasses on) just got screwed]]

* (Pulls off sunglasses) [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/movie-reviews/doom-house.php A doom house?!]

* Once more, with [http://www.onemilliongiraffes.com/?id=6915 giraffes].

* [[Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time]]'s chef does this a few times in the Satanic Salad episode. It even comes with the Who's vocal sample from their song "Won't Get Fooled Again."

* Chris-chan, creator of [[Sonichu]], frequently does this when he starts to rant about [[Serious Business|trolls]].

* [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mother-of-god Now in meme form.]

* Desmond, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Splinter Cell Extinction]]'' poses as a geeky programmer. When he leads the protagonist into an ambush, he silently takes his glasses off and puts a tactical vest on instead of gloating. Works better, especially paired with [[One-Woman Wail|the music]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' had Jimmy constantly putting on [[Cool Shades|sunglasses]] just to invoke this trope.

 

 

== Real Life ==

* In terms of body language, someone pulling off their glasses generally means that they're either trying to artificially make you more receptive to them by removing a barrier, or they're about to lie to you, removing their glasses so that they won't be looking you (clearly) in the eye.

** To be fair, it is generally very rude to speak to someone while wearing sunglasses, especially upon first meeting them. Eye contact is important in most cultures, as it can be a judge of honesty, intent, and attention.

* Go watch the clips of [[Walter Cronkite]] reporting on the Kennedy assassination. He invokes this trope repeatedly, most famously in his "From Dallas, Texas..." announcement of the President's death. It appears that Cronkite keeps putting on his reading glasses to scan bulletins as they are handed to him, then takes them off as he faces the camera to avoid reflecting glare from the lights.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Glasses Tropes]]

[[Category:Body Language]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:The Take]]