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{{trope}}
▲[[File:rsz_2ma3_headdesk_9624.jpg|link=Ménage à 3 (Webcomic)|right]]
This [[Trope]] is when a character expresses his overwhelming frustration by banging his head (often repeatedly) against something nearby. Desks and walls are the most prevalent targets, but other hard surfaces or
Most often seen in visual comedies, as doing this in [[Real Life]] could prove very painful. On the other hand, it ''can'' appear in more serious works, either to lighten the mood of a moment or to punctuate the gravity of the situation.
Compare and contrast with [[Face Fault]], [[Face Palm]], and [[Wall Slump]]. Also contrast with the more serious [[Punch a Wall]]. An out-of-universe version is [[
{{examples
* In ''[[
▲== [[Anime]] & [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
▲* In ''[[To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (Manga)|To Aru Kagaku no Railgun]]'', when given the idea that Mikoto could contract the stripper lady disease, Kuroko does [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4YIs4gcQ8U this].
▲* In ''[[Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Manga)|Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'', Dr. Mikoto Itoshiki, along with the rest of his family, has an [[Unfortunate Name]] which can, in his case, be read as ''zetsumei'' ("death"), thus making him ''zetsumei-sensei'' ([[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Dr. Death]]) and discouraging patients from visiting him. Calling him this results in his banging his head against the wall for several minutes ([[Hypocritical Humor|in one instance, this was near a poster warning about cranial injury]]).
* Kyon of ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' can be seen doing this in the [[Anime Theme Song|opening theme song]], ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIKRn1dbT28 Bouken Desho Desho]'', cementing his [[Deadpan Snarker|personality]] and his [[Only Sane Man|role]] in the [[True Companions|SOS Brigade]].
* In ''[[Clannad (
* ''[[Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (Manga)|Sekaiichi Hatsukoi]]'' has [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/StarRose/GIFS/headdesk.gif one memorable instance] when a character tried to get rid of his crush on a random guy.
* In ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* This is a stock gag in ''[[Dork Tower]]'', where a sufficiently annoying situation will prompt any of the main characters to bang their head against the nearest wall or table.
* [[Archie Comics]]: After ignoring a warning from his mom that it looks like rain and he might catch a cold if he goes out, he and Jughead both get soaked and head for Veronica's place. After going through a sauna and doing laps of a pool to try and avoid getting sick ("No germ would be stupid enough to stick around for that punishment") Archie gets home and...sneezes. "Banging your head against a wall is not an accepted cold medicine!"
==
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fic ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5253648/1/Surprise Surprise!]'' by FirePhoenix86, after a buxom St. Mungo's receptionist tried to get Harry to autograph her chest, he flooed back to Grimmauld Place and started banging his head on a table while muttering "I. Am. Going. To. Destroy. Witch. Weekly."
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fic ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6635363/1/When-In-Doubt-Obliviate When in Doubt, Obliviate]'' by Sarah1281, during an argument with Remus about why Wormtail had been made the Secret Keeper instead of him, Sirius started banging his head against the wall of his room in St. Mungo's, prompting Remus to remark "Oh, that will convince them that you don't have any brain damage..."
* The ''[[My Little Pony
{{quote|
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]/[[Sailor Moon]]/[[Ranma
== Film ==
* [[
* ''[[Buckaroo Banzai]]''. Perfect Tommy lightly bumps his head against the prison bars while Buckaroo is talking to Penny Priddy in jail. The expression on his face and later dialogue indicates that he's doing it out of disbelief that Buckaroo is wasting his time with a woman who tried to kill him. Watch it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsxZLiFSjNQ here, starting at 3:20].
* On ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]'', Tulio is banging his head against a wall to try to figure out a way to escape from Cortez's ship. He appears to get an idea... but just resumes banging. Made funnier when Tulio appears to have a black eye and the wall had ''a dent'' in it.
* [[Jim Carrey]]'s character does this in ''[[Liar Liar]]''.
* [[Sylvester Stallone]]'s character also does this in ''[[Oscar]]''.
* [[
* Miss Piggy does this to her office desk in ''[[The Muppets (
* In ''[[
* Dramatic example: In the aftermath of {{spoiler|Smith's death}} in ''[[Event Horizon]]'', Miller does a subdued version of this against the nearest wall.
* ''[[The Graduate]]'' has Ben Braddock doing an "I can't believe I'm doing this" variant against a hotel room wall just before he sleeps with Mrs. Robinson for the first time.
* Before they meet Anya, Dimitri and Vlad are holding an audition for girls to play ''[[Anastasia]]''. One prospect is a [[White Dwarf Starlet|middle-aged woman,]] who says in a sultry voice, "Granmama! It's me, Ana-''STASIA!''" Their reaction is a combination
* ''[[The Whole Nine Yards]]'' and sequel, with more violent head-on-wall banging, ''The Whole Ten Yards''. Dramatic and played for laughs in one go.
* Done a lot in the movie ''[[Cold Turkey]]'' as the townspeople go through the withdrawls from smoking, most notably a pre-''[[All in The Family]]'' Jean Stapleton clonking her head against a tree.
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== Live Action TV ==
* President Bartlet from ''[[
* The TV series of ''The Life and Loves of a She-Devil'' has a very drunken priest seemingly hitting his head on the table to clear it enough to string sentences together.
* In an episode of ''[[The Wizard (film)]]'', Simon mentions "trying to punch a hole through the wall with [his] head" to a robot he built. This leads to the robot lasering a hole out of said wall a few inches from his head.
* ''[[
* In the "Sectionals" episode of ''[[
* At one point in ''[[
* Gordon Ramsay has only this reaction in an episode of ''[[Kitchen Nightmares]]'' when the cooks of Fiesta Sunrise manage to set flame to a plate of nachos.
** And in ''[[
* While Rimmer is explaining to Lister that the latter has accidentally signed himself (and, unbeknownest to Rimmer, the other main characters) into a suicide squad in ''[[
* This is Peggy Olson's reaction in season 4 of ''[[
* Captain ''[[
* This scene from "The Stepford Peg" in ''[[Married...
{{quote|
'''Al:''' Pumpkin, can you see who's at that door?
''(Kelly stares at the door intently.)''
'''Kelly:''' ...[[Dumb Blonde|No. Maybe I need glasses.]]
'''Al:''' ''(headdesk)'' }}
== Tabletop Games ==
* Done in one ''[[Warhammer
== Theater ==
* Charlie Brown does this in ''[[Peanuts
** Specifically it was against a ''tree'', and Lucy's explanation for this was that he's loosening the bark so it can grow faster. Yeah.
== [[Video Game
* Manfred von Karma does this in ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
** Gumshoe in game 3 pulls a wall bang (off screen) when Phoenix and Maya tell him that Maggey hates him for betraying her.
* [[Played for Drama]] in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' by {{spoiler|Otacon, who appears to take his step-sister's death well-ish but suddenly [[Tear Jerker|breaks into this]] before Snake tells him to get it together}}.
* In ''[[Spellforce]]'', to get your siege units to use their anti-building attacks against buildings, you have to set them next to the buildings ''without'' ordering them to
* In the vein of his source material, [[Homestar Runner
* Not really done to express annoyance, but the first ''[[Dead Space (
** I believe that was a reference to the ''[[Doom (
== Web Animation ==
* ''[[Arfenhouse]] Teh Movie Too'' has a random interscene with someone saying "BREAK TIME" repeatedly while bashing his head against a desk.
* [[Homestar Runner
** In the "deleted scene" from the email "from work", he hits his keyboard so hard it knocks the caption off the screen. No, not his computer screen. The ''cartoon's'' screen.
** In email "sisters", he facedesks onto his keyboard after accidentally deleting an e-mail from a girl, an action which somehow types "head hit keyboard" onto his screen.
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== Web Original ==
* Happens in many [[
* [[Todd in
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Teh Gladiators]]'', this is [[Only Sane Man]] Gorrok's second favorite method (behind [[Face Palm]]) of expressing his disgust/despair with his companions' idiotic antics.
* Gary's reaction to what Zii says about Yuki in ''[[
** And Zii shows how it's done [http://www.menagea3.net/d/20110113.html here].
* In [[Dubious Company]], Mary and Sue use their [[Twin Telepathy]] to [[As You Know|debrief]] each other. When [[Genki Girl|Mary]] goes off on a [[Wall of Blather|tangent]] about [[Love Interest|Elly]], Sue does this to shut it off. It gets worse when Sue "calls" Mary and realizes she's talking to someone about when they went through puberty.
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* [[Danger Mouse]] did it at least once.
* One episode of ''[[Sealab 2021]]'' has Sparks performing this while Captain Murphy rambles on about a video game.
* ''[[
* ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron:
** And in another episode, Jimmy and Cindy were forced to work together for a science
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** Rarity beats her head against a mannequin in "Suited For Success" after Rainbow Dash tells her that the Gala outfit she's making "needs to be about 20% cooler" without giving any actual details.
** In "Show Stoppers", Scootaloo bangs her head against the piano when she has difficulty composing the Cutie Mark Crusaders' song for the talent show.
** In "A Friend in Deed", Twilight Sparkle bangs her head against a tabletop when Pinkie Pie insists on trying to befriend Cranky Doodle Donkey, despite Twilight trying to convince Pinkie that maybe he just wants to be left alone.
* When Bart is on a mission to get his soul back after selling it on ''[[The Simpsons (
* In the ''[[
** Stan bangs his head on the desk in "Pinkeye" when he is stuck dressed as Raggedy Andy. He was supposed to pair with Wendy who would dress as Raggedy Ann but she ditched her costume after realizing how stupid she would look. [[Jerkass|She thought Stan would reach the same conclusion]].
* ''[[Gravedale High]]'': In "Monster on Trial", Max Schneider does this when {{spoiler|the judge declares him guilty in favor of old lady Fresno, who faked whiplash after Reggie accidentally bumps into her while taking Driver's Ed.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'': In "Space Madness" Ren bangs his head on the table after seeing the [[Food Pills]] Stimpy presents.
* In the ''[[
{{quote|
'''Pinky:''' Well, like you said, I cut it out.
'''Brain:''' Cut what out?
'''Pinky:''' That hypnotic stuff tasted terrible, Brain. So, like you said, I cut it out.
''(The Brain walks up to a test tube and repeatedly hits his head against it.)''
'''Pinky:''' Ooh, Brain, that looks painful. }}
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* According to historian Lewis H. Lapham, after the destruction of 15,000 Roman troops (and 10,000 camp followers) under their commander Publius Quinctilius Varus (and his subsequent suicide) at the Teutonberg Forest in 6 AD, [[Emperor Augustus]], "...from time to time until the end of his life... was seen wandering through the rooms of the palace, beating his head against the wall and crying out... "Quinctillius Varus, give me back my legions."
* Popular [[YouTube]] vloggers Hank and John Green (known collaboratively by their channel name of vlogbrothers) sometimes do this in their videos to express dismay at the idiocy of the average internet user (see various You Fail ____Forever tropes) or other frustrations. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VCY4dup3-M In one video] John performed a *headdesk* to the extent that he wondered (possibly jokingly) if he'd given himself a concussion and pretended to have memory loss through the remainder of the video.
* Some editors in [[TV Tropes
* Millions of workers when faced with idiotic management
* Alexander Graham Bell did this when he was trying to create the telephone.
* One of the special effects programmers can be seen doing this in the appendices to ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
* It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to assume everyone's done it at some point.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Character Reaction Index]]
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