Stepford Smiler: Difference between revisions

Scared yet? It gets worse.

 

 

 

 

 

Contrast [[Drama Queen]].

* Mercedes Morcerf of ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' tries to maintain a perfect appearance and smile and loves to pretend that everything is okay even when everything ''really'' isn't.

** Also Heloïse Villefort. She seems perfectly normal in her first few appearances, with a warm motherly appearance and pleasant smile. She is the stepmother of Valentine and is the second wife of the crown prosecutor Villefort. She is the biological mother of her young son Edward, from her first marriage. Valentine is to inherit all of the fortune, leaving her stepmother jealous because Edward doesn’t get a single penny. So when the Count seduces her and innocently introduces her to toxicology and gives her a deadly ring which releases a deadly poison Heloïse becomes murderous and tries to poison Valentine and her husband, as well as inadvertently almost poisoning Albert and poisoned one of the servants of the Villefort household. And she does all this while maintaining her angelic motherly facade up till near the end of the series when her husband finds out what she's been doing and points out that she's nothing more than a murderous insane woman. She tries to deny his accusations before she breaks down and collapses to the ground, finally giving in to her insanity. Her husband then puts her in an insane asylum for the rest of her life.

* Madame Red from ''[[Black Butler]]''.

* Mami Tomoe from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' looks sweet, kind and gentle, but this hides a very scarred little girl from all the fighting she's already done. And she [[Heroic Self-Deprecation|knows it]]. {{spoiler|What she doesn't know is that this has gone to the extent of hiding a very '''fragile''' little girl as well, should she know the [[Awful Truth|Awful Truths]] it become rather clear that she is between a [[Go Mad From the Revelation|Type C]] and [[Beneath the Mask|Type A]].}}

* ''[[Kyouran Kazoku Nikki]]'' has at least 2. Kyouka, the self proclaimed [[God in Human Form]], is actually a {{spoiler|banished princess from a race of sentient creatures from a place called Shangri-la}}. In episode 26's [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] of the entire series, she boldly proclaims that she {{spoiler|is the child of Enka, and must be killed}}. She breaks down, claiming that she doesn't even know who she is since her people are {{spoiler|effectively a race of sentient beings that possess you and give you animal ears}}, lending evidence to her being a type B.

** Arguably [[Shrinking Violet|Yuka]] is one as well, since, despite the fact that she smiles all the time, she was {{spoiler|a "silent doll" for a large crime family, which means that everyone in the family abused her, both physically and psychologically, and it was her job to take it all with no reaction.}} One would think that this would make her a type C, but in actuality she is a type A who keeps smiling in order to [[Children Raise You|not burden]] [[Smarter Than You Look|her family]].

* Hayate of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' shows signs of being a Type A when in her [[Ill Girl]] phase, as Shamal notes that she hides her pain from those closest to them, and while she often comes off as cheerful, she confesses in the second Sound Stage for the season and the start of Episode 9 that she realizes that she might die soon, and for a long time, was not scared at all because of how lonely she was.

** Shamal implies that Nanoha was this during while she was injured and when her recovering her ability to walk or fly was in doubt.

* ''[[Slayers]]'' has a type A example in the form of [[Genki Girl|Princess Amelia]]. Due to the show's comedic nature, her hidden sadness is infrequently mentioned; when it is, it's [[Tear Jerker]] worthy (like the time when {{spoiler|her father Phil goes missing and everyone believes he's dead -- Amelia ''collapses in tears'' at some point, and it's so sad that even ''Lina'' is depressed}}). Although [[Plucky Girl|she stands firm through her family's betrayals]], the death of her mother and the absence of her older sister are large sources of grief for her. A notion of a sad smile is lampshaded at the end of the fourth [[Light Novel]] when Lina meets Amelia, after {{spoiler|Amelia's uncle Christopher kills her cousin Alfred for his betrayal.}}

* Asayo Katsuragi from ''[[Sakura Gari]]'' is a type A example. She is kind, polite and soft-spoken, but she hides {{spoiler|her pain from the abuse dealt by her husband.}}

* Koala from ''[[One Piece]]'' is a type A : During her time as a slave, she had to put on a smile at all times, because slaves who stopped smiling or cleaning would be killed. Needless to say, that smile hid. The poor little girl was so scarred by her time as a slave that she kept the [[Stepford Smiler]] façade even after she was freed. Fisher Tiger finally broke that façade by altering her slave mark to make it look like a sun, and telling her that it is OK to cry.

* Chikane and Himeko both from ''Kannazuki no Miko''. Himeko had a really terrible childhood and tries to hide her insecurities. Chikane {{spoiler|is constantly trying to hide her feelings of love for Himeko...and eventually remembers that she killed her in a past life for a ritual to rebirth the world.}} Because of this, she was unable to help in the ritual to summon Orochi's nemesis {{spoiler|so she wore the mask of the villain at this point in the series when she realized the reason why she couldn't help, because a deep part of her still hated the god. That was Himeko would become stronger and kill her to complete the ritual.}}

*** Wonka himself has shades of this in the Burton version. That smile that ''never stops'', and when it does...scary time. And meanwhile he's cracking up with flashbacks to his suppressed childhood.

** Speaking of Tim Burton, ''[[Edward Scissorhands]]'' features a good number of Stepford Smilers.

* Carolyn Burnham from ''[[American Beauty]]'' is a prime example of this trope, subscribing to the adage, "In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times."

* Katherine in ''[[Cruel Intentions]]'' pretends to be an upstanding Junior League-type schoolgirl, when in reality she's an oversexed, scheming coke fiend who takes out her frustrations on her fellow female classmates by persuading them to sleep around and ruin their reputations as a result.

* ''[[Bad Teacher]]'': Amy Squirrell.

* Karen from ''[[Love Actually]]'' is a more positive version of the trope. She tells one of her friends whose wife has recently died that he shouldn't openly cry because "people hate sissies". When she finds out that {{spoiler|her husband bought his secretary an expensive necklace for Christmas}} she only cries in private but puts on a smile when she returns to her kids in the living room.

 

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

{{quote|'''Bloo:''' Whoa whoa whoa, who said anything about love, Heather?

'''Berry:''' [[My Name Is Not Durwood|MY NAME IS BERRY]]!!! }}

** Also, surprisingly enough, [[Purity Sue|Lila]]. [[Word of God]] says she has a deeply suppressed dark side. Not too surprising given her and her father's poverty combined with her [[The Pollyanna|disproportionally positive outlook]].

* Later on ''[[Home Movies]]'', the rather joyful character Melissa was revealed to be type A, longing for her absent mother to come home and imagines a storybook style reuniting with her despite that her mother may not even wanted her in the first place.

* A Slappy Squirrel short on ''[[Animaniacs]]'' had one in the form of neighborly Candy Chipmunk, who hid her neuroses and obsession with neatness and perfection with a perky facade. Needless to say, Slappy's mental torment quickly strips her of her smile and reduces her to a nervous wreck- all over an argument over recycling.

* Eve from ''[[Alpha and Omega]]'' is a type C version of this trope. She is basically a [[Mama Bear]] with a creepy smile who is practically caring to her family to the point that she would make death threats towards anyone who would hurt her pups in any way. Even though it comes off as scary to the other wolves including her own family, it comes off as becoming [[Crowning Moment of Funny|completely hilarious otherwise]].

** Prussia in the christmas strips is "So happy being alone". [[Blatant Lies|Really.]]

** * In all fanfictions with darker themes with Italy as a character, he will be a Type A. Guaranteed. No exceptions.

** In the manga sequel, Tohma seems to have shifted from a mostly Type B to a Type C. He holds an axe over {{spoiler|a comatose Shuichi, threatening to kill him if he doesn't wake up.}} He does this while still maintaining a huge smile. He's completely type C in the 10th volume when he comes face to face with Yoshiki Kitazawa.

** Tohma's younger cousin, Suguru Fujisaki, is also a Stepford Smiler early on. At least until Shuichi's lazy work schedule gets to him and Suguru ends up panicking about how the band will ever finish its next album instead of worrying about maintaining a smiling appearance. He still has moments where he forces a smile, like when {{spoiler|Tohma confronts Suguru in his office about who will be paying for the destruction of NG.}}

* Oh so many people in ''[[Code Geass]]''. Lelouch Lamperouge and Suzaku Kururugi, to start. Lelouch is a Type B (seems kind and cheery, but is hollow and futile inside), at least initially, and Suzaku becomes a Type A (seems kind and cheery, but feels sad and depressed) over the course of the series.

** And then there's Mao, who has both Type A and Type C qualities: he smiles a lot and seems quite cheerful, but he's [[Unhappy Medium|completely insane from reading all the minds around him]], and desperately pining for C.C., [[Loners Are Freaks|the only person who can provide him with any measure of companionship]].

* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', the [[Big Bad]] of the TYL arc, Byakuran, is a [[Stepford Smiler]] who currently has shown no other expression other than his smile.

** He is beginning to show cracks, though; we got a nice "oh fuck" face with {{spoiler|Uni's}} arrival.

*** Despite being weird, the English dub that made him sound forty wasn't the worst casting choice ever.

* Kei Yuzuki from the second ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]'' OAV is a good Type B. He hides his boredom with life in general, his feelings of inferiority towards his more academically-successful siblings and his apathy towards his [[Education Mama]]'s constant pressure under a polite, soft-spoken, [[Chick Magnet|beautiful]] [[White Prince]] mask.

* [[D.Gray-man|Lavi.]] Or perhaps in this case we should say [[No Name Given|Bookman Junior]], since "Lavi" is just another one of his aliases. ([[Becoming the Mask|He started changing]] once he started to get into his new role more and came close to his teammates though.) But what was the actual person like before joining the Order? During the fight with Road, Lavi gets flashbacks- what we see is a jaded and cynical young man who has lost all the faith in humanity, who doesn't give a damn about anything. He socializes with people only because it helps him to get information more easily ("Let's be frivolous and friendly like always"), face all smiles, not being a bit like [[Keet]] we know he is in the series. It's even mentioned in Reverse Novel 2 how his eyes seemed dead when he first came to Black Order.

** But when you consider his past, is it any wonder he turned out like that? After all, growing up while recording wars and seeing bloodshed wherever you go isn't exactly the happiest childhood there is. To sum it up: Bookman Junior is Stepford Smiler Type B, perhaps a bit milder version since he's not totally soulless, maybe a bit hollow, yes, but not empty. After becoming Lavi, his fake smiles have started slowly turn into genuine ones.

* Andrea Cavalcanti/Benedetto in ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' is an effortlessly charming man who smiles sweetly at all times who happens to also be a crazy wild-eyed rapist with daddy issues.

* Serge Battour of ''[[Kaze to Ki no Uta]]'' has shades of this. He's every bit as sweet and friendly as he appears to be, but there is more to him than he lets on.

* Alois Trancy of ''[[Black Butler]]'' is a Type C.

* Loki and Cain of ''[[Reimei no Arcana]]''.

* ''[[Manga/Kiniro No Corda|Kiniro No Corda]]'': Yunoki.

** Selim Bradley from the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime is a sweet little boy. He can't be dangerous or evil, right? {{spoiler|WRONG! He's actually Pride, the eldest of the homunculi.}}

** {{spoiler|The Dwarf in the Flask, later known as [[Big Bad|Father]], needed to be this to fool Van Hohenheim into going along with his plans.}}

* Oh, {{spoiler|[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle|Fai]] [[Survivor Guilt|D.]] [[Angsty Surviving Twin|Fluorite]].}}. Look at you.

 

[[Category:Subverted Innocence]]

[[Category:The Fifties]]

[[Category:This Index Has Had a Hard Life]]

[[Category:Extraversion Tropes]]