Stepford Smiler: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

It's all a lie, of course.

 

 

These are the three main types of Stepford Smiler:

 

 

 

Scared yet? It gets worse.

 

 

 

 

 

Contrast [[Drama Queen]].

----

 

* Internet telephone service provider Vonage has a commercial where a smiling couple, looking like they are the perfect example of two drones, show up on the doorstep of a new couple to the neighborhood, offering a pie along with a basketball-sized pile of wires as the "bundled" cable, phone and internet service, and even admit the disadvantages: incomprehensible bills and unexplainable charges. The new couple explain they have Vonage phone service. The welcoming female's entire persona - clearly a type "C" Stepford Smiler - "cracks" as she tries to explain that "everyone" in the neighborhood bundles. Her husband (more calmly) echoes her, also saying (with a lot of emphasis) that ''everyone'' there bundles.

 

* ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Project S]]'''s tough Misao Amano is the [[Shrinking Violet]]. While she appears to be cheerful, in reality she's hiding her lack of self-esteem, and her loneliness and jealousy which manifests as [[Dark Magical Girl|Pixy]] [[Split Personality|Misa]].

* {{spoiler|Mima and Rumi}} in the [[Satoshi Kon]]'s movie ''[[Perfect Blue]]''.

* Many female characters in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', the most notable ones being Asuka, Misato and Ritsuko.

** This all culminates into a relationship between the two, with Arima thinking some...terrifyingly possessive thoughts about his girlfriend who is oblivious to the dark turn his thoughts took.

* It is strongly implied that Yoko Nakajima, the main character of ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'', starts out the series as a junior version of this in regards to her home and social life; she reveals later the fear that there was truly nothing inside.

* Masane from ''[[Witchblade (anime)|Witchblade]]'' has this to a degree. After losing all her memories in the great quake, and even her old name, all she had to build a new life was her daughter Rihoko. She is constantly saying that Rihoko is the only thing she has and aside from being her mom, there really isn't that much to Masane. Well until she activated the Witchblade and became an [[Action Mom]]. As the series progresses, she gets better.

* Tohru Honda from ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' is a genuinely kind and caring person, but has serious insecurities that she hides behind her smile and [[The Pollyanna|cheerful disposition]] to avoid troubling her friends.

** And then the [[Eldritch Abomination]] that feeds off of despair showed up. Cue Juri getting [[Mind Rape|mind raped]] with the memory of Leomon's death, over and over.

*** In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5B-KZNIZYs the Disappearance movie] (spoiler warning, it shows a scene from the film), it gets particularly egregious. That smile seems even more sinister than it did before once you've seen it.

** Utena herself shows signs of being one at times. She was rather depressed in the past to the point of wanting to die after her parents died because she saw life as pointless if all humans eventually die.

* In ''[[Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two.|Ef a Fairy Tale of The Two]]'' and in its anime adaptation, {{spoiler|Amamiya Yuuko displays a particularly disturbing and twisted version of this.}}

* Dawn from ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'', oddly enough, fits this trope. She fails at keeping it a secret though.

** Not odd at all. She lost a good 3 or so contests in a ''row'' before her self esteem broke. She seems to naturally have self esteem problems, maybe due to bullying as a child, and maybe her mother's wanting for her to be like her, and since she is a bubbly cutie who worries about her friends. Not at all odd.

* Mai Tokiha from ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' keeps a smile on her face almost constantly because she doesn't want to burden any of her friends with her personal problems, which include a [[Parental Abandonment|dead mother]] and a [[Ill Girl|sick younger brother]].

** The anime version of [[Psycho Lesbian|Shizuru]]: She manages to keep up a cool and semi-cheerful facade for the vast majority of the series, all while trying to content herself with being Natsuki's friend despite believing that she can't tell her how she feels. We don't see it break until Natsuki rejects her.

{{quote|"''But you know," [Amelia] added, still sporting that strange smile, "I really don't like that you can't trust people in your own family around here." It could've been my (Lina's) imagination, but just then I sensed a great sadness in Amelia behind that bubbly facade. There was definitely more to that girl than met the eye.''}}

** Complicating Kyoko's case is that after [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|she]] discovers her "prince" Shou's heartless betrayal of her and snaps (in the first chapter), she continues from there. And the skills and habits she learned in her previous life and her tendency to live for others coexist really ''strangely'' with her new life goals. She wouldn't have made it so far if she wasn't the person her childhood made her, but she had to break with her childhood to go anywhere.

* Dita from ''[[Vandread]]'' was surrounded by people who were depressed often as a little girl. This, in turn, depressed her. She tried to cheer people up by acting as a [[The Ditz|ditzy]] [[The Cutie|cutie]], it worked, so the habit stuck.

* Seras Victoria from ''[[Hellsing]]''. She's unnaturally cheerful and goofy for someone who's had all of her police partners killed, being nearly raped and killed by a vampire and then is actually turned into one. That's just the first volume/episode. Also [[spoiler:her parents were killed in front of her and her mother was raped. [[Necrophilia|In]] that order. The manga was a bit more subtle about her being a Stepford Smiler but the OVA series comes right out and says it.

* Most of the members of the "Scratch" cult in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. Faye's smile while talking about getting rid of her debts by getting rid of her body is especially unsettling...

* The girls from St Arsenal Academy in the manga ''Mission! School''. At first they seem like your average happy schoolgirls. However, it turns out that they have been brainwashed and when they are provoked are revealed to be highly trained killers. The scary thing? They never stop smiling, even as they are taking on their enemies.

* 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]]''.

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

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' features [[Depraved Bisexual|Tsukuyomi]].

* Mio Hio from ''[[D.N.Angel]]''. Her initial personality of being a smiling [[Genki Girl]] is not her true personality. She's actually really depressed because she's actually a voodoo doll taken human form and she doesn't have much time left as a human being.

* Lemilia of ''[[Reimei no Arcana]]''.

** The series' main villain, {{spoiler|Takano Miyo, also counts; she constantly acts like a friendly, helping hand to the arc's protagonist, sweeter than sugar, only to reveal herself as a cold [[Magnificent Bastard]] with one hell of a [[God Complex]] in the final arcs, who guns down anyone willing to mock her goals and beliefs.}}

** How could we forget {{spoiler|Rena? Underneath her cheerful facade, obsessed with all things that she believes are cute, lies a girl who is utterly broken over her parent's divorce, tried to kill herself, and lives every day with a smile just to make others believe she is happy.}}

* Hino Kahoko of ''[[Kiniro no Corda]]'' following her [[Break the Cutie]] process tends to smile and act like everything is alright around her friends but if she's alone she tends to lose her smile and get depressed.

* 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.}}

* Farnese from ''[[Berserk]]''. She used to be a spoiled, pampered [[Lonely Rich Kid]] that had she needed to be happy. In appearance. It appears she was actually a [[Pyromaniac]] [[Enfante Terrible]] who was suffering from her parents' [[Hands-Off Parenting]] and was called the "demon child" of the Vandimion house.

 

 

* Taken to downright depressing levels in issue #8 of the 2007 revival of ''[[The Brave and the Bold]]'', a story starring [[The Flash]] and the [[Doom Patrol]]. Elasti-Girl is constantly smiling throughout, even when things look horrifically dire. (Master artist George Perez takes great care to give make her expression ''completely identical'' every time: a bright grin with eyes that betray just a hint of utter desperation.) Flash explains to his freaked-out kids that she used to be a movie star and since gaining superpowers she feels like a freak of nature. She smiles because it's the only way she can still feel pretty, and she thinks it puts people at ease. Flash's daughter comments that it isn't working.

 

** And, then there are the [[Uncanny Valley|Stockholm Syndrome Pirates]].

* There is a fair share of ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' fics that portray Tomo, [[Genki Girl|of all people]], as one of these. [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2552320/1/Cold_Nights Such] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3594480/1/Fallen_Happiness as] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2724513/1/Rouge_et_Noir these] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3313358/1/Wednesday_Morning_3am ones].

* ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' [[Fanon]] sometimes portrays Sierra with tinges of this, suggesting that her [[Loony Fan]] antics are either the cause or effect of an inability to form any close, real-life friendships.

 

* ''[[Mean Girls]]'': Gretchen (the 'one small step from a complete nervous breakdown' version, rather than the 'empty inside' version).

* Gina McKee plays a particularly creepy variant of this in ''[[Mirror Mask]]''.

{{quote|'''Black Queen:''' Because we are...what?

'''Guard:''' Not a home to Mr. Grumpy, Your Majesty.

'''Black Queen:''' Exactly! }}

* 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.

* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Shock Treatment]]'': Denton is a hybrid of a TV station and a town, so naturally it encourages its residents to be shallow, cheerful consumers.

* [[Nicole Kidman]]'s character in ''[[To Die For]]'' is a sterling example. For extra fun, the movie is [[Based on a True Story|based on the real-life story of Pamela Smart.]]

* The film version of the book ''[[Dangerous Liaisons]]'' (from which ''Cruel Intentions'', above, was adapted) has the Contesse de Merteuil (Glenn Close) outright state that she learned to smile even when she didn't mean it.

{{quote|'''Contesse de Merteuil:''' I learned to smile while under the table I was sticking a fork in my hand.}}

* Parodied with the camp counselors in the second ''[[The Addams Family|Addams Family]]'' movie. Also, Wednesday's (fake) smile while at the camp, which is met with a "She's scaring me!" from another camper.

** Speaking of ''Addams Family Values''... What. About. DEB-BIE!?! Doesn't she deserve love? And jewelry?

* [[Tilda Swinton]] in ''[[Michael Clayton]]'' makes every effort to appear a confident and poised professional who loves her job, but behind the scenes she's a timid, nervous wreck.

* Janine in ''Animal Kingdom'': she maintains a sugary-sweet maternal demeanor as she {{spoiler|witnesses the criminal activity of her many sons, deals with the death of three of her children, plots to have her grandson murdered and blackmails a man into killing him.}} [[Complete Monster|Wow.]]

* Lucille Slocumb in ''Kingdom Come'' maintains the role of cheerful people-pleaser and peacemaker while under the stress of struggling with infertility, her recovering alcoholic husband, Ray Bud, planning her father-in-law's funeral, and dealing with a group of crazy relatives and friends. At one point she goes into a bathroom and downs "nerve pills". She [[Break the Cutie|finally snaps]] at the viewing when she comes across a [[Berserk Button|bucket of chicken that triggers memories of a traumatic experience]]. The next day Lucille nearly has another breakdown when the funeral is delayed because of the preacher's "intestinal difficulty" and Ray Bud threatens to yank the bathroom door off the hinges, telling Ray Bud, "I don't have my nerve pills on me today!"

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

 

* The Other Mother from ''[[Coraline (novel)|Coraline]]''.

* On the heroic side, Leitha from [[David Eddings]]'s ''[[The Redemption of Althalus]]'': she pretends to be cheerful and witty, but is secretly neurotic, insecure, and self-hating.

* The Goddess Media from ''[[American Gods]]'' by [[Neil Gaiman]] was like this in her true form. As the humanoid manifestation of The Media, when she wasn't possessing characters on television she was described as looking like the sickeningly sweet hostess one of those morning shows filmed in a fake living room.

* Sansa Stark from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' becomes this in order to survive being trapped in a [[Deadly Decadent Court]] ruled by a depraved boy king.

** Varys and Littlefinger, the resident [[Magnificent Bastard]]s, are this, and in both cases, it's implied to be more than just a mask to wear in public...

* Countess Rostov from ''[[War and Peace]]'' is very much like this except when she's talking with her daughters. Pierre Bezukhov's wife Helene would be a subversion in that she goes from having no role in society except being beautiful (and smiling a lot) to one of the eminent hostesses on the Moscow and St. Petersburg scene after getting married.

* Ira Levin's book ''[[The Stepford Wives]]'', the [[Trope Namer]].

* Kaitlyn Werhner from the short story, ''Dark Red Mind''. If you were to see her smile at you with those piercing blue eyes, ''run.'' Not that it would help you any.

* Glinda from ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]'' is essentially this. As such a high and mighty political figure she must keep a happy facade. Made even worse when her best friend, who happens to be the person she loves, is killed. She must act as if she ''hates'' her and tell pitiful lies about her. It's debatable if the musical or book version has it worse.

* ''[[Paper Towns]]'': Margo, although even this is more complicated than it usually is.

* Jennifer North in ''[[Valley of the Dolls]]'' tends to be this. Harry Bellamy says of her "That smile is glued on." She's unfailingly warm and friendly to everyone and sincerely cares about others' problems, while hiding a life full of shame, lies, bitter disappointments and, finally, breast cancer. Most of the truth is not revealed until long after her suicide.

* Mrs. Coulter in ''[[The Golden Compass]]''. She puts on a friendly, trustworthy front, when in reality she's one of the leaders of an organization that kidnaps young children and surgically removes their souls.

* The Irish short story ''An Beann Og'' (The Young Woman) follows a mother of two who politely smiles to anyone she sees and greets them kindly. She seems perfectly happy as she gets herself tidied up for her husband coming home for dinner but the last line of the story says she feels a small tremble of despair at the thought of her husband.

* ''[[The Westing Game]]'' has two female examples:

 

* ''[[Eastenders]]'' has had Vanessa Gold, a lovely, only slightly tarty woman with perfect hair, a perfect name, and a perfect complexion, wearing exclusively white. She smiles an awful lot, and allows herself to put up with a cheating husband for many many years. When Max leaves her for Tanya, she goes a wee bit bonkers, including a lot of screaming, derpface and smashing living rooms, but the really powerful stuff was her obsessive cleaning when she suspected the affair.

* ''Most'' characters in ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' live this trope - it is one of the key fascinations of [[David Lynch]] and common in his work. The key theme of ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' is taking a dreamy, perfect small rural town with white picket fences and exposing the hypocrisy, instability and literal evil that underlies it everywhere. Shades of grey abound.

** Also, Nate Archibald's mother. To the point of being called the Archibot by fans.

* Betty Draper from ''[[Mad Men]]'' could be used as a textbook example; she's playing the role of '50s wife and mother so perfectly that her impending nervous breakdown seems like a surprise even to ''her''.

** It didn't help being married to [[Broken Ace]] Don Draper. The fourth season spent much time surveying the wreckage of that broken union.

* Barb Ballantine, the 'perfect' mom from ''[[The Mommies]]'' showed signs of this trait.

* [[Amy Poehler]]'s impression of Hillary Clinton on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' seems to draw a good deal of inspiration from this trope.

{{quote|'''Matron:''' And now, Zev, repeat after me: "Are you comfortable, darling?"

'''Girl:''' "Are you comfortable, darling?"

* Daisy from ''[[Dead Like Me]]''. She starts out as a [[The Ditz|ditzy]] [[Bottle Fairy]] and former actress who [[Really Gets Around]], loves to brag about it, and acts more than happy with herself, but then her last thought is revealed: "Why has no one ever loved me?", revealing that she only ''acts'' happy with her life (and her un-life, given what the show is about).

* ''[[Chuck]]'''s [[Action Girl|Sarah Walker]]. In ''Chuck Vs. Santa Claus'', {{spoiler|she kills an enemy agent, and almost immediately puts on a cheery smile and tells Chuck that he was taken into custody. Of course, [[Downer Ending|Chuck saw the whole thing]].}}

{{quote|'''Quinn''': And you just pushed it aside, like we do every bad feeling in this house. If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist.}}

** Terri ''tried'' to be one of these with her fake pregnancy.

* Played with in ''[[Dark Angel]]''. The one-off character Mia was a Manticore Psi-Ops gal with the ability to [[Mind Screw|influence people's thoughts]], and she had the personality type of being a Smiler. [[Subverted Trope|It was all an act of course]], because what she really wanted was to [[Batman Gambit|trick Max into fighting Alec in a cage match, after she'd set Alec up, but bet everything on Max, while Dougie, her lover and a lieutenant of a crime boss, whom Max and Logan had been trying to take down, had bet everything on Alec, so Dougie would be convinced to rat on the crime boss and get out of the business]], so she and Dougie could run away together. Oddly enough, the reason she was in love with Dougie was because, on account of his narcolepsy, he was immune to her abilities.

* Amy Pond from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' also shows signs of this at times, as according to [[Karen Gillan]] deep down she doesn't trust the Doctor as much as she seems to. [[Word of God]] says that in Amy's Choice the dreams were the Doctor's and Rory's and that she has no dreams of her own. Then there's the fact she has no memories of any reason to be in mourning after episode 9...

** And then at the end we find out why it was just her in that big empty house for all those years....

* The [[The Nth Doctor|Seventh Doctor]] episode, ''The Happiness Patrol'' is built around this trope. It focuses on a whole society of Stepford Smilers who are [[Happiness Is Mandatory|forced to be happy]] by the titular organization. The penalty for displaying discontent or sadness is death -- [[It Makes Sense in Context|by strawberry goopy stuff]]

* In ''[[Skins]]'':

* Shirley in ''[[Community]]'' displays a mild side of the trope, but she is known to have "thinly veiled rage issues" under her cheer.

* The fourth season premiere of ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' had Sabrina consider moving in with her father on her 18th birthday. Hilda and Zelda are devastated but cast a spell to give them big toothy smiles so as not to spoil Sabrina's birthday. The effect is slightly creepy.

* ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'' features a [[Vain Sorceress]] as one in the "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror" and another one in "The Tale of Many Faces".

 

* Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" is practically the musical [[Trope Codifier]].

{{quote|Now if there's a smile on my face

* In the planned music video for "Rhinestone Eyes" by [[Gorillaz]], there's a sequence where Crazy Cyborg Noodle goes on a killing rampage while wearing a creepy ear-to-ear grin, which ends with a close up of her crying eye.

* The main character of the music video for "Everybody's Fool" by [[Evanescence]].

{{quote|"I've hammered a smile across this pasty face of mine

since the day I was born in 1975." }}

* Everclear's ''Wonderful'' hints at this.

* The chorus of [[Taylor Swift]]'s "Tied Together With A Smile" is about a Type 1 childhood friend of Taylor's who had anorexia.

{{quote|"And no one knows

Smiling faces show no traces

Of the evil that lurks within..." }}

{{quote|"Buried deep as you can dig inside yourself, hidden in the public eye

such a stellar monument to loneliness.

* [[Lady Gaga]]'s "Dance in the Dark" is surprisingly dark. "Baby loves to dance in the dark / cuz when he's looking she falls apart".

** "So Happy I Could Die." "I do my hair / I gloss my eyes / I touch myself all through the night."

* The song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl_QbG5RTPg&feature=channel_video_title Eight Hundred] by Pinocchio-P.

* The song "GIFT of Princess Sleep-Bringer" by [[Mothy]]. More specifically, the character who sings it, Margarita [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Branchenheim]] (played by [[Vocaloid]] Hatsune Miku).

 

 

* Mrs. Lovett in ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]''. She is cheerful and kindly, but has no problems whatsoever chopping up human bodies nor really with Sweeney's killing, and she is really only interested in improving her social standing. While not necessarily hollow, she certainly doesn't give a lot of moral considerations to her actions.

* Amanda from Tennessee Williams's ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'' possibly qualifies, though she's most interested in [[Evil Matriarch|living her ideal life vicariously through her children]].

* In ''[[Mary, Mary]]'', Mary accuses her ex-husband Bob of having forced her into this type when they were married:

{{quote|"I felt like I was on some damn panel show, twenty-four hours a day. Smiling, affable, humming little snatches of song. Laughing when I didn't know the answers. But affable, affable, affable! You don't know how I longed to get up some morning and feel free for once to be depressed, to be constipated, to be boring."}}

* Edith in ''[[The Women]]'' has one pregnancy after another, even though she hates babies and doesn't like being pregnant. She seems to do a lot more complaining than smiling, but nevertheless insists that "I'm the only happy woman you know." Perhaps she does more smiling in mixed company.

 

 

* Sagiri from ''[[Suikoden V]]'' was trained to be this kind of character, a ruthless killer with a permanent smile on her face. By the time you meet her she's mostly rehabilitated, however she still finds herself unable to adopt any other expression.

* Colette from ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' is a Stepford Smiler, always having a smile on her face, even as she {{spoiler|starts to lose her humanity}} and later on {{spoiler|starts slowly turning into a Cruxis Crystal}} while trying as hard as she can to keep it a secret from everybody.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe|Fire Emblem 7]]'', the [[White Mage|Cleric]] Serra is a mix of [[Genki Girl]] and [[Rich Bitch]] who [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!|acts like a princess]]... {{spoiler|but truly is an orphan dropped at a small, miserable Ostian convent by an Etrurian clan in danger of being wiped away. Her parents never came back for her and she was badly traumatised by their abandonment.}} Get her to support with people like Hector or Lucius to get more details.

* In the second game of ''[[Ar tonelico]]'', this is Luca's defining feature. [[Becoming the Mask]] is the goal of her path, but she is [[The Scrappy|very unpopular]] among many players who feel she hit a [[Moral Event Horizon]] somewhere along the line.

* In ''[[System Shock]] 2'' you find the protocol droids, robots made to work like secretaries, greet people, give directions, etc. When they turn against you, they walk around searching for you, saying things like "Where are you, sir?" "I cannot help you if you keep hiding. "Please wait, I can offer you my assistance.". When they get near to you, they FRIGGIN EXPLODE.

* {{spoiler|Haru}} from ''[[Devil Survivor]]''. {{spoiler|Behind her typical idol singer personality lies a suicidal depression.}}

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' has Laughing Octopus. She's got a * really* good reason, though.

* Miranda Lawson from ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' keeps trying to convince herself and everyone around her that she's happy and she's found her place in life, but that perpetual smile of her just screams "Fake!"

* GLaDOS from ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]''.

* Daniella/The Maid from ''[[Haunting Ground]]'' certainly qualifies; for her first few appearances in the game, she is polite and courteous to Fiona, only to reveal her truly [[Ax Crazy]] nature during the game's second act.

 

* [[Zig-Zagging Trope|Played with in]] ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. Rin Tohsaka pretends to be a wonderful honor student, kind and good at everything. However, underneath that is someone selfish who can't get up in the morning and gets angry easily. But that's a bit of a [[Jerkass Facade]] because under ''that'' is a genuinely kind person who ''thinks'' that they need to be a heartless jerk like magi are supposed to be. {{spoiler|And under that is an immensely guilty layer over her estranged sister Sakura because, while she doesn't know much about the Matou family, she knows they're not nice people. She simply underestimates ''how much''. This final layer is finally uncovered in the ''Heaven's Feel'' path instead of merely being hinted at.}}

** Also Ilya. Oddly enough, she doesn't actually fool Shirou for very long despite doing what seems to be a pretty good acting job.

* Souji and Mie in ''[[Suika]]''. Souji actually admires this about Mie and is determined to turn her slightly fake smiles into realer ones.

 

* Erika in ''[[Megatokyo]]'', while currently a [[Deadpan Snarker]] as well as a [[Badass]] [[Action Girl]], was a voice actress and [[Idol Singer]] in her day, and still can't bear the thought of her fans thinking of her as anything but upbeat and bubbly. Dom calls her out on it by showing that even in the midst of a rampage of rabid fans and excessive taunting by him, she feels a need to keep her smile going.

* Shroomy from ''[[Electric Wonderland]]'' has a cheery and naive demeanor undermined by depression caused from continuously crushed hopes.

* In ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella|The Non Adventures of Wonderella]]'' Rita is tied up by a super-intelligent gorilla who boasts that his empathic helmet will give him the insight into humans he needs to take over. After hearing in a story in which her emotions fluctuate while she remains smiling, he's told that human ladies are supposed to keep smiling all the time, no matter how they feel. He responds by throwing away the helmet, and possibly giving up on wanting anything to do with humans.

 

* Aki of ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'' starts out as one, repressing her real emotions to [[In with the In Crowd|fit in with the]] [[Girl Posse|popular group]] at school. After she's exposed, she drops the act but has a hard time adjusting to being a normal person.

* Rhianna von Adolph from ''[[Open Blue]]''. A [[Knife Nut]] in charge of the special operations department of [[The Empire]]'s intelligence agency.

* [[The Guild|Clara's]] smiling, friendly demeanor hides a criminally neglectful mother and {{spoiler|a treacherous backstabber who creates an alternate character to attack Vork and makes out with a man Codex is interested in.}}

* In a [[Played for Laughs]] example, [[The Nostalgia Chick]] has an element of this about her, even though she's not evil and mostly a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Jerkette With A Heart Of Gold]]. This comes up mostly when she reveals something nasty about her childhood and then has a big, happy smile on her face a few seconds later.

 

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

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

** [[Butt Monkey|Meg]]: She goes to town with this trope.

* The brainwashed Joo Dees (shares initials with Jane Doe) from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].'' Mentally, they're practically Stepford Wives. ''Of the government.''

** Hell, ''everyone'' in [[What the Hell, Townspeople?|Moralville]], who as a whole are more concerned with the ''appearance'' of faith then actually following it. A few get better. Most, probably, do not. The fact that this is based on the creator's [[Freudian Excuse|childhood experiences]] is depressing.

* Marge Simpson of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has repeatedly been portrayed this way, commenting on bottling up her feelings and staying with Homer "no matter what" after he does something truly horrible. Lisa has pointed this out on at least one occasion. This has become more and more relevant as the show has descended into unrepentant farce, to the point that one episode even has Marge admitting that she only stays with Homer for appearances sake, due to the fact that everyone else in Springfield is single, divorced, or in a marriage hit by marital infidelity and as such, the entire town consider Homer and Marge's marriage to be a roaring success in comparison.

** [[Depending on the Writer|Depends on what episode you're watching]]. A lot of episodes go out of their way to prove that Marge and Homer do still love each other. The show thrives on [[Negative Continuity]], after all...

*** One very early episode shows Marge was taught to be one of these by her mother as she tries to make Lisa the same way in hope that if they pretend to be happy, they'll be happy after a while. However, when Marge sees Lisa actually starting to step into the role and how others start to take advantage of it, she gets angry, whisks her away and takes back her advice. Perhaps it could be said that in the series in general Marge has a tiny bit too much will left to stay in this role consistently.

** Lindsey Naegel (aka the businesswoman) appears to be, on the surface, a powerful and successful woman who's sophisticated demeanor hides a dark side (she's a self-admitted sexual predator) and is a functional alcohallic.

** 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.

 

 

* That creepy Bob fellow in those commercials for Enzyte's "natural male enhancement". If you can't quite seem to figure out just what he's smiling about from the [[Double Entendre]] laden narration, [[Late to the Punchline|give it time]].

** That is not a smile. That is a rictus of agony from unceasing pain. The eyes implore the viewer for the merciful release of sweet death.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn5EP9StlVA This] commercial for LendingTree.com.

 

* Several, but most notably, Tatsunosuke, Suzu, and Tetsunosuke in ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]''.

*** This may be why his ''[[Gintama]]'' counterpart keeps trying to murder Hijikata.

* The villainous Seta Sojirou, [[The Dragon]] of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'''s best known story arc, also fits here -- a cheerful young person who's capable of incredible violence because he has no soul or conscience behind the mask. (Or at least that's what ''he'' thinks.) He actually started doing this because it stopped his family from abusing him if he didn't appear bothered by it.

** And again, Okita Souji, in the brief times he appears to interact with Kenshin and Saito Hajime. This is the popular portrayal of him in Japanese fiction in general, and it has been stated by one of his descendants that he did indeed smile frequently. (This is probably because Sojirou's character was based on Okita Souji.)

** On that note, Kenshin himself. He hides the guilt and shame over his checkered past (and hides his temper) behind a cheerful and laid-back persona. Common for [[Walking the Earth]] [[Retired Badass]] types.

** Hirako Shinji, too - he's hardly ever seen not smiling, and when he isn't it's because he's either really angry or something [[Player Punch|unsettling just happened]]. That man has been through a load of crap, and is probably in need of some counseling. Not as much as some other characters, but still...

* You Takami from ''[[Deadman Wonderland]]'' seems to be one of the friendlier people in the prison/themepark, but he's not above {{spoiler|stealing the antidote for Ganta's poison, taking someone's ''entire'' ear for their earring, selling out [[The Ditz|ditzy]] possible [[Dark Action Girl]] Shiro to the guards, and killing his own father}}, although the last part was because he thought he was protecting his sister. Then again {{spoiler|he doubted that his dad could've really raped her}} so one wonders exactly what kind of person You was ''before'' being imprisoned.

** Actually, {{spoiler|his little sister, Minatsuki, killed their father. He even asks, upon her about to [[Back Stab]] him with her Branch Of Sin, if 'this is how you killed out father?'}}

* It's been implied at this point that Takuto Tsunashi of ''[[Star Driver]]'', up to this point a typical kind, cheerful, [[Badass]] [[Idiot Hero]] with a bit of [[Cloudcuckoolander]] mixed in, at the very least has some [[Hidden Depths]] that are... well, not nice, at the very least (and at the most, this is all a facade and he's completely SCREWED UP) if these implications are to be believed. Knowing Yoji Enokido, these are probably going to be fully explored by the time the series is over.

* [[Intrepid Reporter]] Wolfgang Grimmer, from ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', a rare male version of the mask as the only personality. {{spoiler|The fact that sometimes he snaps in a Hulk-like killer alterego with no memories afterwards doesn't help his case, although he pleads [[Freudian Excuse|childhood abuse]] and unethical assassin training.}} However, he's also one of the rare ''good'' examples of this trope, genuinely wanting to do the right thing, and [[Character Development|as his role in the series progresses]] it seems like the [[Becoming the Mask|emotions he displays grow more genuine.]]

** Also, Johan's muscle and pawn, Roberto, harbors an extremely creepy Stepford Smile, [http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd282/mon15/05/ster749q.jpg as seen here]. Let's just say that it's a common trait amongst Kinderheim alumni...

* Chichiri from ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' has a literal mask that helps him pull off the goofy, care-free smile; it's a significant plot-point when he takes it off to relay his tragic backstory.

* Yuki Sohma from ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' is so terrified of being rejected by his peers that he uses his numerous skills (martial arts, good looks, charisma, etc.) to hide the inferiority complex that [[Parental Abandonment]] and Akito's [[Mind Rape]] gave him.

* ''[[Trigun]]'''s Vash the Stampede combines this with [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to create [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] so that nobody realizes just how dangerous he is, or what horrific memories and experiences he lives with every day. In the whole anime series, only Nicholas D. Wolfwood is able to see right through Vash's act - in his first episode, Nicholas shares some food with a pair of hungry children while Vash watches, then tells Vash that he looks good with a real smile on his face, not the fake one he's been showing.

** Wolfwood has the advantage of inside information. The old Professor among the Last Unfallen humans, who's known him for decades, can also read through this kind of thing, although Vash doesn't try it so much with him. Stuff like bickering childishly with Wolfwood apparently reads as 'real' to both these parties.

'''Vash:''' [Beat panel, still smiling.] What other expression should I make? I don't know anymore. }}

** Nicholas D. Wolfwood himself thrives on this trope, although it's clear almost from the beginning he is a dark, conflicted, and potentially angsty character.

* Cho Hakkai from ''[[Saiyuki]]'' qualifies, as he smiles constantly even while fighting, despite his angsty past {{spoiler|which includes but is not limited to killing over 1000 demons to rescue his lover Kanan (who is really his twin sister), then watching Kanan kill herself with his sword because she was raped and impregnated by a demon, then to top it off, [[Karmic Transformation|becoming a demon himself]]. Whew}}. His companions note that whenever he actually ''does'' stop smiling and looks angry, it's extremely scary.

** Manages to overlap with [[Slasher Smile]] without changing his expression. Creeeeepy.

* Shuusuke Fuji of ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' was a bit like this due to the problems with his younger brother Yuuta that caused him to bear a huge guilt. He starts acting more genuinely cheerful when he and Yuuta patch their relationship.

* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', {{spoiler|Masaya Aoyama}} is revealed to be one of these, keeping up his "perfect" mask to hide the fact that he hates all of humanity. Ironically, most of the [[Fan Dumb|fandom]] seems to ignore this, taking his Smiler-ness as both his true personality and an excuse to [[Die for Our Ship|pair Ichigo up with someone else.]]

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

** 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.}}

* Kaito Kuroba/Kaitou KID from ''[[Magic Kaito]]'' thrives on his use of "Poker Face", an important skill taught to him by his father when he was young. Kaito's poker face (both as Kaito and KID) is pretty much always some variation of a smirk, and he rarely lets it drop even when things go wrong. Let's put it this way: if Kaitou KID ever stops smiling, ''everything'' has [[Gone Horribly Wrong]].

* Oz Vessalius from ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'' determined to keep [[Angst? What Angst?|perky and optimistic]] no matter what life throws at him. Said life keeping a good record by hurling issues of [[Abusive Parents|Parental Hate]], [[Death's Hourglass|Tick Tock of Death]], and being [[Barrier Maiden|Barrier Lad]]. Seeing that Oz ''still'' smiles, apparently life needs to ''try harder''

** Yamamoto shows signs of being this at times. Fanon usually takes such subtleties and [[Up to Eleven|runs with 'em for all they're worth]].

* ''[[Naruto]]'' himself. He smiles near-constantly, which, during his childhood, was to mask the sadness of his lonely life. Those who are closest to him are able to recognize when his smile isn't genuine (which is, surprising enough considering [[Keet|his personality]], almost all the time). He will tend to mask his pain with a smile, such as when he promises Sakura to bring back Sasuke for her before and after the retrieval mission. He even admitted to Hinata that the smile is a mask, and Pain put him on the ropes by breaking him down with words, getting him to second guess his own actions. Before the Chunin exams finals, he admitted that he viewed himself as a loser and tried to act cool and brash to cope with this.

** From the same series, Sai. As part of his indoctrination into Danzo's forces, all of his emotions were stripped away until he was emotionally empty. When assigned to Naruto's team he tried to teach himself how to smile in order to pass himself off as normal, but Naruto easily saw through it. He still has trouble understanding and feeling emotions, but he's getting better... He will never be normal, but who wants normal?

** Iruka was a mild example during his childhood (after his parents' deaths).

* [[Dragonball Z|Future Trunks]] definitely. In his first appearance, he's friendly to the Z Warriors and is polite to a fault with them. However, he comes from a horrible future where every main character is dead. Made worse because his father Vegeta apparently ignored him, though at the end he leaves at peace.

** [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Part]] of the ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' fandom sees Gohan as this, post-Cell Saga. Considering what the poor guy [[The Woobie|went]] [[Break the Cutie|through]], it's not hard to understand why.

* [[One Piece|Monkey D. Luffy]] is thought of this by a good portion of the [[One Piece]] fandom because of his [[Determinator|relentless]] [[The Pollyanna|optimism]] considering all of the terrible things that have happened to him in the past. But the main reading is still that he's just that stupid.

** Also thought to be this are the {{spoiler|Boa sisters}} and some of the other slaves of the [[Complete Monster|Celestial Dragons]].

* ''[[Game X Rush]]'' has smiling, laughing, charming Yuuki, who's hiding a treasure-trove of Capital-I-Issues in his head. Memori reflects that ''"Even a face laced with a tiny bit of pain... is a thousand times better than seeing that mask."'' It's implied that a large part of Yuuki's impetuous to stay around Memori is that Memori can discern the real smiles from Yuki just being a [[Sad Clown]].

* The titular ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]''. Recent chapters/episodes have implied that his kindness and decency are coping mechanisms he developed to cope with the harsh, nay, downright vicious realities of his life rather than his fundamental personality.

* ''[[Durarara!!]]'': {{spoiler|Kida}} is not naturally that cheerful — it's a front he puts up for Mikado's sake.

* Yuki Giou of ''[[Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru]]'' clearly has some issues of self-worth stemming from being abandoned by his parents when he was real young. However, if someone should ask him if he's doing alright he usually gives them a cheerful smile and says "nothing's wrong" but tends to get depressed if he's by himself.

* Okami in ''[[Code Breaker]]'' initially seems to be successfully pulling [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] on his class with his [[Nice Guy]] persona. However, one chapter has several classmates wanting to cheer him up, commenting that he seems to be very sad but putting on a happy front for their benefit.

** The lead... no, ''all'' of the ''Code: Breakers'', seeing as they're super-powered [[Ax Crazy|Ax Crazies]] put to good use by the government (or something).

* Tamaki Suoh from ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' is this. He has to live with the knowledge that he'll never be the heir to the Suoh dynasty, that his grandmother despises him simply because of birth circumstances (his father married a lower-status French woman instead of the arranged girl) and that he may never amount to anything famous. Until the last two episodes of the anime, he covers it up remarkably well, mostly by holding ostentatious events with the host club. We also hear about it during Kyouya's backstory, when he explains how he and Tamaki became friends and started the host club.

* Gon of ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' is hinted at being this.

** He's also a deconstruction of shonen heroes, and possible a rare type of psychopath with fascinatingly [[Player Centered Morality]] (i.e. "This serial killer helped us learn a lot by fighting us, so I'll show him mercy in good, shonen-hero style, even when you point out that he will go kill more young women and eat them if set free. Because he helped us.") It puts the manga-trained reader into the weirdest headspace after a while.

* Ryou Bakura of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' is one of these. When he first appeared in the manga, the Millennium Ring was giving him chest pains, but he covered it up so people wouldn't find him strange. He overall acts incredibly cheerful most of the time, but he also hides his problems, which is pretty bad for the protagonists. Yami Bakura, however, takes advantage of this, as he often ''pretends'' to be the normal Bakura so he can carry out his evil plans on the quiet, meaning he does this on purpose.

** He ambiguously stops existing at some point in the third season for no particular reason. His friends apparently do not care. Or notice. Or something. He kept turning into the crazy guy so they couldn't trust him, and the pharaoh decided killing him was acceptable given the threat to the world, so maybe he committed soul suicide. Or just retired to his soul room forever.

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

* [[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.

{{quote|"1 year...2 years...The time within the order passed on. I soon came to the point where I didn't know whether my smiling face was a lie or not."}}

** Some interpretations of Allen's character. Allen tends to smile and throw out optimistic and enthusiastic support at the drop of a hat when around his friends, but whenever he's alone he tends to be either beating himself up, wallowing in some deserved self-pity, or worrying about his entire freaking existence.

* Ewon from the manhwa ''Totally Captivated.'' He smiles, he's friendly, and he will be an [[Extreme Doormat]]... until you push him too far. But he's been so [[Break the Cutie|utterly and completely broken]] [[Dark and Troubled Past|as a child]] that if you dig a layer beneath his engaging exterior he's basically an [[Empty Shell]]. As a result, he's [[Really Gets Around|pretty damn promiscuous]], and will shy away from any serious relationship. Fast ([[Your Cheating Heart|this may coincide with the promiscuity bit]]).

* In ''[[Devil and Her Love Song|Akuma to Love Song]]'', Yuusuke epitomizes type A, and even calls it "Lovely Transformation."

* ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'': Tsuzuki appears cheerful and childish, but in fact is a [[The Woobie|woobie]] with many issues.

{{quote|'''Shouma''': "I’ve always thought I was a more pathetic and helpless person than I seem to be on the outside."}}

* ''[[Togainu no Chi]]'': Keisuke has shades of this in Episode 5 where he smiles at Akira despite it being clear he is disturbed by what Akira had done. Naturally, Akira [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|calls him out on it.]]

* 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.

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

* Kotetsu from ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' is implied to hide feelings of worthlessness and unhappiness with his life under his [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Adult Child]] demeanor. [[Word of God]] supports this, stating that Kotetsu exaggerates his behavior as a means of putting people off of him (because he doesn't think he's worth worrying over), that he's never fully sorted out the emotional baggage anti-NEXT discrimination's saddled him with, and that he was on the verge of major depression at the beginning of the series.

* Kaworu Nagisa of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' seems to fit this trope as well. He's always smiling, but in reality, he just wants {{spoiler|the world's end}}. [[It Gets Better|It Got Better]] for a while, but shortly after, [[It Got Worse]].

** Also, Ryouji Kaji, who was smiling calmly in the very moment {{spoiler|he was shot to death}}

** Shinji: For most of the series he walks around quietly with a little smile on his face, even when it becomes clear he's dying inside.

* [[Dragon with an Agenda|Glemmy Toto]] of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ]]'' initially appears to be a [[Laughably Evil]] [[Noble Demon]] with a [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|quirky sense of humour]] and some other odd, but [[The Charmer|charming]] behaviours. He's actually a deeply screwed-up [[Teens Are Monsters|kid]] who has [[The Starscream|no loyalty to his boss]], [[Big Bad|Haman Khan]], is out to [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulate]] his way into power and doesn't particularly care who gets hurt in the process. His [[Villainous Crush|crush]] on [[Action Girl|Roux]] goes from cute to twisted very fast, he's implied to have some [[Lolicon|warped sexual preferences]], and several of his lines imply that behind the cheerful facade he is ''screaming'' on the inside. Being a [[You Cloned Hitler|clone of]] [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Gihren]] [[Complete Monster|Zabi]] will do that to a guy.

** At points in the novel it's made pretty clear that Itsuki's finding it difficult to keep smiling, such as in volume 9 {{spoiler|he's been unable to sleep well for a lengthy period of time due to constant closed space activity, appearing exhausted and using a rather forced version of the usual grin, which falls off if he isn't concentrating.}} What is he really thinking? Who knows, [[Mr. Exposition|it's the one thing he doesn't really talk about. Probably.]]

** To add fire to the fuel, in the eleventh novel, he cheerfully prepares to fight (and probably kill, it wasn't made clear afterwards) the novel's [[Big Bad]]. Note the word ''cheerfully''.

** 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.

 

** Boss Smiley from ''World's End'' is, as one can deduce from his name, an exaggerated example.

* In ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'', one of the presidential candidates is known as 'The Smiler', and is shown as willing to kill just about anyone, including his wife, to improve his ratings.

** He is always cracking jokes and acting as a class clown (particularly in the early ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' comics, but later you find out that he's covering up for his sadness about all the people he's lost in his life and his fear of losing more (among other things).

 

* Zirah, from ''[[The Sacred and the Profane]]''.

{{quote|"He won't stop crying."

Zirah stared at him in wide-eyed innocence. He looked puzzled.

"Why not?" }}

* ''[[Naruto]]'' fics that wish to portray him as [[Marty Stu|secretly a badass all along]] tend to call his canon characterization the "idiot facade."

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' fanfics about [[Cheerful Child|Keef]] are pretty rare, but those that exist often portray him as having neglectful of abusive parents. Given [[Jhonen Vasquez]]' style, this is entirely plausible (compare ''[[Squee]],'' for example.)

* [[Harry Potter (novel)|Draco Malfoy]] often gets this treatment in sympathetic fics that don't actually [[Draco in Leather Pants|put leather pants on him.]] I.e., he's spent his whole life trying to be what his father expects him to be and has no idea what he is. More of a Stepford ''Smirker'', of course, but it's entirely possible he does smile at people who aren't Harry Potter and his friends; we'd never know.

{{quote|Applejack glanced at her friend. "Usually he's just all plain an' sleepy-like, but sometimes he gets this look on his face like..."

"Like?" Rarity echoed.

"'Cause when he gets like that, he looks darn near fifty." The earth pony shook her head. "It ain't right for a colt to look twice his age." }}

 

* ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'' has the Other Wybie, who was literally ''made'' to smile despite his actual emotions. {{spoiler|So much so, that when he expresses his disapproval [[The Speechless|through a frown]], the Other Mother ''sews his lips into a perma-grin.'' The stitches are cut, but not before we see what [[The Dark Knight Saga|the Joker]] might have looked like as a child.}}

* Norman Bates from ''[[Psycho]]''. Outwardly smiling and charming, but oh so unwell behind the mask. It's even more unnerving because Norman himself is so unstable that he acknowledges his Stepford mask slipping on and off:

{{quote|'''Marion:''' Sometimes, we deliberately step into those traps.

'''Marion:''' Oh, but you should. You should mind it.

'''Norman:''' Oh, I do [laughs]

* From the Trope Namer, the 2004 version of ''[[The Stepford Wives]]'' had a gay couple, one of whom, {{spoiler|played by Roger Bart}} was a male example. The {{spoiler|main 'leader', played by Christopher Walken}} was one, too. {{spoiler|Said male leader was a ''robot'', built and programmed as "the perfect stepford husband" by Glenn Close's character to cope with her husband's adultery, and perhaps even her murder of him.}}

* Chancellor Palpatine in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels. On the surface, he was the amiable Chancellor Palpatine, but below...he wasn't.

* John Candy's character Del in ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'' seems to be an indomitably chipper guy until it's revealed in the end that he's a deeply depressed widower.

** The seemingly-kindly {{spoiler|Lotso Huggin' Bear is actually a bitter old man (well, plush bear) who runs Sunnyside Daycare like a cruel prison warden, and has never gotten over being abandoned by his former owner.}}

** Chuckles in Toy Mode, additionally falls under the [[Sad Clown]] trope.

* Lenny in ''[[Strange Days]]'' maintains his chipper huckster facade in public, but in private he's deeply depressed.

* Conner Rooney in ''[[Road to Perdition]]'' smiles when he is feeling shamed or humiliated, particularly when his father shows favoritism to Michael. When Peter asks him why he's always smiling, he leans down and deadpans, "Because it's all so fucking hysterical."

 

* The title character in Edward Arlington Robinson's poem "Richard Cory" is a male Stepford Smiler whose secret unhappiness isn't revealed until the last lines: "And Richard Cory, one calm summer's night,/Went home and put a bullet through his head."

* Many of the characters in Edward Bloor's novel ''Tangerine'' definitely fit this trope. The three most glaring examples are Joey, Erik, and Paul. In fact, Erik may even be the king of this trope.

** The genuine people in this book are found by exiting suburbia (achieved by the middle school getting sucked into <s>hell</s> a sinkhole and the kids being spread out) and rubbing elbows with tangerine farmers and other 'real' people.

** The [[Jerk Jock]] trope gets ''interesting'' play in this story. Which also features good people getting unjustly struck by lightning and interesting information about citrus farming. And a viewpoint character who's caught in a [[Mind Screw]].

* Many of the characters from ''[[Lunar Park]]'', by [[Bret Easton Ellis]].

* ''[[Discworld]]'' serial killer Carcer is deceptively cheerful and innocent-looking, with his smile putting people off guard...until they look in his eyes and see the monster behind the mask.

* From ''[[The King in Yellow]]'': "I wear no mask."

* Todd Bowden from [[Stephen King]]'s ''Apt Pupil'' maintains the image of a cheery all-American golden boy even while he's blackmailing the neighborhood [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi-in-hiding]] into telling gruesome concentration camp stories. It's all downhill from there.

* Mr. Happy was like that at, at least the start of ''[[Mr. Men]] A Christmas Carol'' to help and keep Mr. Mean, happy. Ironically, this book was made shorty before ''[[The Mr. Men Show]]'' came on air...

* ''[[X Wing Series]]'': Ton Phanan, though we don't really get to see it until late. He's a [[Deadly Doctor]], a [[Deadpan Snarker]], caustic and funny and able to put aside the sarcasm in the right moments. He also feels that the cybernetics he started to get after [[Emergency Transformation|almost being killed]] couldn't replace his future, [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|which died.]]

* In ''[[Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor]]'', Luke is subjected to a terrible vision of what it's like to [[And I Must Scream|live through the heat death of the universe]]; when he comes out of it he's... different. He becomes nihilistic and depressed, believing that love and friendship are just tools people use to manipulate each other, and that it's pointless to save anyone. However, he's still [[The Messiah|Luke Skywalker]], and he makes the conscious decision to act ''exactly'' like he did back when he still thought life had value and meaning, in the hopes of [[Becoming the Mask]], longing to believe the happy lies again. Eventually he does get out of that mindset.

* In a dystopian novel by Fedor Zamyatin ''We'' the totalitarian government works towards making its subjects as machinelike as possible: perfectly scheduled and mapped lives, synchronised movements of multiple people, lack of names in favor of numbers. This agenda is ultimately crowned by "The Great Operation" in which the human brain is irradiated by rays, that ''[[Mind Rape|completely and irreparably strip a person of his imagination]]''. It's like [[Equilibrium|Prosium]] on an anatomical level. One of the effects (aside from turning a human being into an obedient and ever-happy shell of a man) is a perpetual grin on the subject's face as he now thinks "smiling is a natural expression of human face".

* ''[[Darkest Powers|The Summoning]]'' has Simon Bae, who for his introduction in the first book seems like a totally normal, cheerful kid who just so happens to be locked up with his older brother in a group home for mentally unstable kids. No matter how gloomy and angry his brother Derek is, Simon always remains upbeat and positive, until Derek snaps at him for doing nothing to help find their [[Parental Abandonment|missing father]]. This is the first thing that breaks Simon’s happy mask, and he admits that having to pretend to be content all the time when he really wants nothing more than to run away and find his dad is killing him inside.

* ''The Belgariad''/''The Malloreon'': Silk, AKA Prince Kheldar, is asked why he's always laughing at life. His answer: "If I wasn't, I'd probably be screaming at it."

* [[T. S. Eliot|J Alfred Prufrock]] attends parties and formal events to try to be accepted by his peer group but ultimately feels dead inside, and that he has never done anything significant with his life.

 

** Spike himself also falls within this stereotype; despite all of his posturing as far as being a murderous bad-ass vampire, with the body-count to back up his swaggering, the dude is still the horribly insecure, [[Momma's Boy]] [[Nerd]] who writes crappy poetry, who overcompensates for his nerdiness by acting like a big time vampire. This was most notably shown in his origin episode, which contrasted Spike's boastful tales of past exploits with flashbacks that reveal how lame he used to be, right down to revealing that his nickname "William the Bloody" originally referred to his "bloody awful poetry."

** To call them "smilers" is a gross understatement. They're more like... stepford newlyweds-who-just-found-$500-in-the-house.

** If you know what's going to happen next, Dean comes off as a version of this trope in the supposed lighter moments of Seasons Two (the season where everything leads up to him making the demonic pact) and Three (when he has done so). Whether it's the Daddy Issues or [[Survivor Guilt]] or his impending death/suicide, he loves to pretend that everything is perfect when it's really, ''really'' not.

* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'': Wilson is one of these.

* On ''[[CSI: NY]]'' Flack has started to become one in season 6 of the show since {{spoiler|his girlfriend was killed in the season 5 finale}}. Characters are starting to guess something is seriously wrong, however, because he doesn't keep the mask completely on all the time.

** [[Matt Smith|Eleven]] is usually energetic, cheerful, and [[Adorkable]] as all hell. He also immediately recognizes that a villain is a part of his own subconscious because "there's only one person who hates me as much as you do", and, when presented with the (false) opportunity to find more Time Lords, was more eager about the chance to beg for their forgiveness than for companionship or a chance at locating friends.

*** Then there's the scene when he's offered options for the TARDIS' voice interface. Himself? "Nonono, give me someone I ''like''." Rose Tyler? "Oh, great. Give me guilt." Martha Jones? "Also guilt!" Donna Noble? "''More'' guilt!" Finally, he says "There must be ''someone'' left in the universe I haven't screwed up yet!". Current companion Amy? Yeah, he thinks he's effing up her life too.

*** Matt Smith actually described Eleven as a person who had to act happy and cheerful and put on a silly hat, otherwise he'd hang himself.

* ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'': The host of the Quiz Broadcast sketches ("Hello, good evening, and remain indoors!") a game show taking place [[After the End|after]] "[[Noodle Incident|The]] [[The End of the World as We Know It|Event]]". His act (and [[Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate|suit]]) unravel as things get progressively worse.

 

* Nick Cave's "Good Son".

* "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles:

{{quote|Now if there's a smile on my face

It's only there trying to fool the public }}

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4m4lnjxkY Eduard Khil], to the point of [[Memetic Mutation]].

* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] I'm A Loser," mostly written by Lennon:

{{quote|Although I laugh and I act like a clown

My tears are falling like rain from the sky

Is it for her or myself that I cry? }}

{{quote|Inside my heart is breaking

My make-up may be flaking

But my smile still stays on. }}

* The protagonist in [[Jonathan Coulton]]'s song "Good Morning Tucson", a morning news anchor who keeps his trademark smile going even as he's trying to get through his day's work, interviewing guests he doesn't particularly care about, and {{spoiler|''literally setting the studio on fire, watching it burn down around him''}}.

 

* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'': Calvin (sarcastically?) [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] this for a moment when his father tells him he needs to go to bed earlier so that he won't be so grumpy each morning; he starts going around with an enormous fake grin instead.

 

* Although he tries to seem like the stable emotional pillar of the group, the songs "Halloween" and "Goodbye Love" from ''[[Rent]]'' reveal that Mark is really one of these.

** "What You Own," too.

* C.B. the Red Caboose in ''Starlight Express'': "Under the smiles and under the fun, I'm Public Enemy Number One!"

{{quote|'''Le Bret:''' ''(taking his hand):'' You weep?

'''Cyrano:''' No, never! Think, how vilely suited

The grave emotion that a tear engenders! }}

 

* Another example is Jade Curtiss from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''. He does it due to being [[The Stoic]], and to mask the fact that he {{spoiler|Accidentally [[Dead Little Sister|killed his teacher]]}}. Plus, it helps a [[Deadpan Snarker]] to keep a straight face.

* [[Creepy Child]] Chris from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' fits this trope very well, as he's almost a modern version of the aforementioned Soujirou. Always with a smile in his face, even when killing random people. The fact that he's the [[Big Bad]]'s host doesn't help, either.

* [[The Legend of Zelda|Happy Mask Salesman]]: He seems to be generally happy, but come back to him without the money you owe (or without his stolen mask) and his broad smile turns into a furious grimace as he starts threatening you.

 

* An oddly non-creepy example that doesn't fit into any of the categories is Ambassador Colias Palaneo in ''[[Ace Attorney]] Investigations'', who mainly keeps a constant smile as part of his [[Nice Guy|ur-politeness]]. The fact that he drops it pretty easily helps out.

 

* Skids of ''[[Boy Meets Boy]]'' is mostly genuinely cheerful. But when things start to get him down, he simply pretends to be even more cheerful. This is extraordinarily creepy.

* Torg in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is one in [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20090821 this strip], after {{spoiler|beating the crap out of the psychiatrist and remembering he saw Zoe's unremovable cursed necklace at the scene of her supposed death.}}

* Alexander Hamilton of ''[[The Dreamer]]''.

 

* Like the [[The Nostalgia Chick]], [[The Nostalgia Critic]] also delves into this on occasion. Mostly when a movie does something good then completely fucks it up but also when he was talking about his parents.

{{quote|*shows a picture of his kindergarten self being ripped apart by two monsters labeled "Mom" and "Dad"*

'''Critic''': (cheerfully) "I had issues." }}

 

* Genie from Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' seems to at least somewhat fit this Trope. He mostly acts very upbeat and cheerful, always cracking jokes, and having lots of fun with magic. But at one point we learn he is actually quite sad and really wishes to be free.

** Isn't that also true of the man who does the voice?

* Mr. Happy from ''[[The Mr. Men Show]]'' is the example of the sympathetic kind. While in the books, he was nearly always happy, in this show's version, there's been times, when he tends to hide other emotions behind a smile to keep other people's spirits up. There's been episodes to show that like "Lake", "Canned Goods", "Collecting", "Music", "Ships" and others.

* The Bloopers Guy from ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' puts on an enthusiastic and chipper act, but considering he tries to commit suicide after every show, there is ''something'' wrong with him.

** And let's not forget why Butters needed two years of therapy after his last tap dancing competition....

** {{spoiler|Kenny, known for laughing at innuendo,}} is most likely this as of {{spoiler|"Mysterion Rises"}} because of the fact that {{spoiler|no one remembers any of [[They Killed Kenny|his deaths]]}}.

** There are no indications that Spongebob is sane. The flavor of his apparent insanity varies.

* Ned Flanders of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. He is perpetually happy, refusing to let ''anything'' get him down or bother him - even if it really should. Maude's funeral may be one of the few exceptions to this. One episode, which sees him suffer a nervous breakdown after trying to cope with the people of Springfield (very shoddily) rebuilding his house after it's been destroyed, implies that this is a result of him misinterpreting some advice given to him by the therapist who saw him for his anger management problems, when he was a teenager (and rebelling against his beatnik parents by being an angry, angry square).

{{quote|'''Ned Flanders:''' Now calm down, Ned-dily-diddly-diddly-diddly... they did their best, shoddily-iddly-iddly-diddly... gotta be ''nice'', hostily-iddly-diddly-iddly... Ah '''''hell''''' diddly-ding-dong-crap! '''''Can't you morons do anything right?!'''''}}

*** In fact, in one Halloween special, Ned Flanders becomes an Orwellian figure and makes sure ''everyone'' smiles - or go through "Re-Neducation", aka lobotomy.

** There is a hint of this lampshaded by Timmy's mom after being swapped into dad's body in one episode, where she mentioned that she had a sudden feeling of giving up on her dreams. This could mean Timmy's dad gave up on his old dreams sometime ago.

** Also, in the FLARG episode when Timmy is trying to stop Mark from exploding:

{{quote|'''Mark:''' Dude, what's with the face? It is happy, yet at the same time DISTURBING!}}

* The titular ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' Po. It's implied that he has that cheerful front to hide his insecurities. Subverted because some of his smiles are genuine.

* On ''[[Daria]],'' perpetually happy [[Hippie Teacher|Mr. O'Neill]] gets at least one moment of this: in "[[The Movie|Is It Fall Yet?]]" [[Troubled Child|Link]] tells him off, saying that he either doesn't really care about helping people or just "sucks" at it. (It's the latter.) After Link storms out Mr. O'Neill reassures himself that Link didn't really mean that, then goes back to his work, only to make a loud sobbing noise a moment later.

* The Ice King from ''[[Adventure Time]]'' is shown to be extremely depressed in several episodes, yet is also a giggling [[Adult Child]] quite a bit of the time.

 

* Not only did famed author and children's entertainer Robert Munsch suffer from Manic-Depression and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, [http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/810508 he also is a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict.]

 

 

 

* Outside of the ones that act fairly emotionless, many Contractors are like this in ''[[Darker than Black]]''. November 11 and Amber are a good illustration, as their cheerfulness seems to be inversely proportional to their sincerity.

 

* The author of [[Travels Through Azeroth and Outland]] writes [[World of Warcraft|draenei]] rather like [[Green Sky|Kindar]]. You do, however, get a few eccentrics ([[Perky Goth|Vasalyan]]), basket cases ([[Broken Bird|Balaa]]), and characters who mean well but really don't ''get'' other races (Kastoor).

 

* Paul and Mary Bland of ''Eating Raoul'' are probably the world's most upbeat and together conservative couple ever, even as they descend into {{spoiler|theft, murder and cannibalism}}.

{{quote|'''Alvy Singer:''' Here, you look like a very happy couple, um, are you?

'''Female street stranger:''' Yeah.

 

 

* Arguably the entire tree-dwelling Kindar culture in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ''[[Green-Sky Trilogy]]''. The descendants of a group who decided that humanity's past misdeeds were best forgotten, they consider negative emotions (lumped under the heading of "[[Newspeak|unjoyfulness]]") inappropriate and best kept suppressed.

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''

** [[Complete Monster|Dolores]] [[Harry Potter/Characters/Ministry of Magic|Umbridge]]. Part of the reason this character is so effective is that she wraps her sadism and violence in an unnerving Stepford mask.

*** Luna could also be a subversion, if her serene personality is completely genuine.

* Almost the entire main cast of Jodi Picoult's ''Nineteen minutes'' (Barring Peter, Jordan and possibly Patrick)

** Alex has to act perfect 24/7 for the sake of her job whilst the strain tears her apart.

** Lacy has to deal with the fact that one of her children turned out to be a druggie whilst the other (Peter) went on a killing spree.

** Lewis (Lacy's husband) has to deal with the above whilst being a happiness economist (Meaning it's his job to work out the mathematical value of happiness)

** Selena gets off relatively easy, only having to deal with racist idiots.

 

 

* Gem and Gemma of ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]''. The disturbingly cheerful smile never leaves their faces, whether they're talking about explosives, military strategy, their time imprisoned by the enemy and forced to do hard labor in an enemy factory producing [[Mooks]]...

** They also love drawings of unicorns, butterflies, and rainbows, and work them into anything they write or draw (including a very, very confusing map to said factory, composed ''entirely'' of unicorns and rainbows).

 

 

* The song "The Great Pretender" describes this kind of person, who puts on a happy facade to hide their sadness about losing a lover. Goes into "mixed gender examples" because it has been performed by males (i.e: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml1gW_f-U6E Roy Orbison]), [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRJ0H9cqffk Freddie Mercury] from [[Queen]]), females (i.e.: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXtDm08xFag Dolly Parton]) and both [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP8xff2X46A The Platters], who had four male singers and a female)

* The [[Rise Against]] song "The Approaching Curve" is about a relationship built around this trope by both sides; the relationship is falling apart, but according to the lyrics "They'll remember, only our smiles 'cause that's all they've seen. Long since dried, when we are found, are the tears in which we had drowned..." Overall, it makes the song about a tough breakup even sadder than it was before.

 

 

 

 

 

{{quote|''Such simple creatures I'm grateful not be one any longer. Still... I do wish to remember just a bit more clearly what it felt like.''}}

* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' features a dystopic world run by a power-mad AI that demands that all citizens be happy, under penalty of summary execution.

** The most terrifying part of this is that Grandpa Nurgle ''IS'' that nice and loving [[Friend to All Living Things]], it's just that in a truly Lovecraftian manner he loves ''all'' living things, including the disease microbes and such, and simply [[Blue and Orange Morality|cannot express his love and acceptance in any other way]]. It's notable that the followers of Nurgle are, despite their festering and rotting appearance, the happiest and best psychically adjusted among the Chaos worshipers.

 

 

* The backstory for the Pleasant family in ''[[The Sims]] 2'' is scripted like this: [[Mary Sue]] and Daniel have a perfect suburban life. He's shtupping the maid, she's about to get fired, and their daughters hate each other.

* Given that it's set in [[The Fifties]], many civilians in ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' fall under this heading, particularly the residents of [[Stepford Suburbia|Santa Modesta]]. Quite naturally, these suburbanites like to present themselves as flawless and content, but a quick [[Telepathy|peek at their thoughts]] reveals that the men only manage to suppress their psychotic rage with their collective obsession with lawnmowers and automobiles, and the valium-addicted women are engaged in fierce and unending competition over the best home and garden, broken only by tupperware parties and neglected children. Exactly one citizen manages to realize how miserable she really is, and in the end, she decides to drown her sorrows in cheap meaningless sex. And of course, being an alien invader, you have the opportunity to put every last depressive one of them out of their misery in the most painful way possible.

** There's a whole town of Stepford Smilers, well-groomed but down-to-earth, assured Andale is the best little town, that their blessed country will protect them from the commies, and that all is right with the world. This being Fallout, of course, [[It Gets Worse]].

** There's a woman in the small town of Arefu who seems to have gone completely delusional and pretends that she is living in a beautiful pre-war suburb. She hands the player rusty tin cans, proclaiming they're her prized batches of chocolate chip cookies. Ironically, she's never even experienced life before the war.

* ''[[Psychonauts]]'' features both a female and male example. Crystal and Clem are two seemingly cheerful and enthusiastic campers who like to root their fellow campers on (especially Raz)... and also harbor suicidal tendencies. Most of this is [[Played for Laughs]]: "I feel so stupid for throwing myself off the roof!" "Why did you throw yourself off the roof?" "Because the poison didn't work, duh!"

** By comparison, twice in Boyd Cooper's mind, you get assaulted by nightmares and have to fight them as minibosses. So it would seem that in the metaphorical context of things, nightmares being "locked up" is more a sign that you've dealt with them and have them under control, rather than that you're suppressing them.

* Any game from Zynga. In ''Cityville'', it's just getting scary with how everyone always smiles and looks so cutesy. A few of my contacts have named their cities Stepford for this very reason.

 

 

* In ''[[A Profile]]'', Masayuki is implied to be one for a time, but it turns out to be untrue and that he really has simply changed, mostly for the better. {{spoiler|Miou, on the other hand, is pretty emotionally damaged inside.}}

* The characters do this in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' in the question arcs, and first two answer arcs, to try and hide things.

** {{spoiler|Rika}} too. To all the world she's just a [[Cheerful Child]], because {{spoiler|she's convinced that if she lets anyone know something's wrong they'll just get hurt, and she's given up anyways}}. The reality of her situation is pretty bad, and in private she resorts to [[Drowning My Sorrows|drinking away her problems]].

** For that sake, almost every main character in the series. They are first shown a a group of cheerful persons, and indeed the first episode looks like it's gonna be Lucky Star 2. Then we find out that {{spoiler|Rika has revived at least a hundred times after being brutally killed, and remembers every single deaths she has been through}}; {{spoiler|Keiichi is a delusional psychopath that once went on a rampage with a BB gun, shooting little girls}}; {{spoiler|Satoko killed her parents almost by accident and her brother Satoshi is hospitalized with little chance of recovery, and since then, her uncle has been abusing of her so much the only action of patting her head can potentially lead her to violent convulsions}}; {{spoiler|Shion was meant to be killed just for being Mion's twin, and possibly even worse then that, she lost her beloved Satoshi by Oyashiro-sama's curse, and later is forced to rip off her own fingernails}}; {{spoiler|Rena had to suffer from her parents' divorce, and on top of that, seeing her mother with another man lead her to viciously wound some of her classmates during a rampage (not to forget the [[Attempted Rape]] on her, and how she has to fight off Rina and Teppei's machinations)}}; {{spoiler|Takano is another delusional psychopath, so twisted by her horrifying past in an [[Orphanage of Fear]] that she doesn't even care about how many thousands of people die due to her activities}}. But outside of that, they're pretty happy and smiling...

 

 

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' give us the Empire of Blood, an ''entire nation'' that smiles and steps ultra carefully in fear of violating [[All Crimes Are Equal|any minor crime]] that will see them packed off to the [[Gladiator Games]], eaten by a dragon, or worse. Best exemplified in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0755.html this strip], where a pair of reporters are covering a parade held in the Empire. Within seconds of the female reporter accurately identifying a group of marchers as the Empire's death squad and criticizing the regime, she is shot with a poisoned arrow and replaced by a female member of the death squad. All the while, the male reporter keeps smiling.

 

 

** Former gamer Warren Pace gives himself a [[Jerk Jock|complete image makeover]] to fit in with the football team due to his perceived images of jocks.

** [[Cloudcuckoolander|Maria Graham]] has a bad habit of burying any pain and angst underneath an overly cheerful, energetic persona. It's already been shown before that when she finally crashes, [[Heroic BSOD|she crashes HARD.]]

** [[Brainless Beauty|Hermione Miller]] also has been shown to have tendencies of this. She spends most of her run in ''serious'' denial, believing that she is at the campsite while acting eerily cheerful and rejecting all signs that she's stuck on a [[Deserted Island]]. Eventually she has a revelation about her situation and that no one will take her seriously due to her being [[The Ditz]], and right after {{spoiler|is [[Driven to Suicide]]}}. She also receives a fair amount of [[Lampshade Hanging]] comparing her to the [[Trope Namer]].

 

 

* The central theme of ''[[Moral Orel]]''. All the peppy, upbeat 50's stereotypes are repressed, abused, and liable to snap at any moment.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrnTZdQVk1M Frothy Dawg]

 

* [[Eversion (Sugar Wiki)|This page]] is about a bright, cheerful, and wonderful game! You'll have lots of fun reading all its super fun happy tropes and be so happy playing this fun game itself! Fun! Fun! Fun! {{spoiler|NO IT'S NOT. NOT. AT. ALL.}}

 

 

* News anchormen/women/folk. To watch them [[Mood Whiplash|report happy, light-hearted stories immediately preceding reports of tragedy and/or horror,]] or to hear them banter and joke with each other, you're left with the distinct impression that they are doing so not because they genuinely feel this way, but rather because it is the "appropriate" behavior to express. Maybe it's just me, but the whole thing comes across as [[Uncanny Valley|unnatural.]]

** It's called [[wikipedia:Happy talk|Happy Talk News]], and oh God, no, you are ''so'' not alone.

** Despite the popular perception of them being these, sometimes the mark of an all time ''great'' news-caster is the times they ''do'' let down their facade of journalistic impartiality, such as during John Glenn's Mercury Capsule launch when [[Walter Cronkite]], getting a bit too caught up in the excitement to maintain the stoic facade, said of the rocket, "Go, baby!" For a more recent example when Brian Williams was invited to play "Not My Job" on ''[[Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!|Wait Wait Don't Tell Me]]'', he showed that behind the facade of somber, impartial journalism, he is actually sharp as a tack, and has a lightning-quick wit.

*** Some news-casters, particularly those who also commentators, are more able to avert this trope, such as [[Countdown with Keith Olbermann|Keith Olbermann]], and the late Paul Harvey, but it's a thin highwire to walk, as getting ''too'' impassioned in any direction with one's commentary can cross the line from showing oneself as human into letting loose with an unhinged rant a-la ''[[Network]]''.

* [[North Korea]]: in this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeS8izVl0tI youtube] video of the 2005 [[wikipedia:Arirang Festival|Arirang Festival]] [[wikipedia:Mass games|Mass Games]] the women using the [[Staff of Authority|batons]] during (21:00) for the [[Amazon Brigade|women's military]] performance never stop smiling.

* [[Friendly Playful Dolphin|Dolphins]]. They have that "smile" on their faces regardless of their mood. Unfortunately, many people think that because of their "smiles", dolphins are nice gentle creatures. They are not.

* At most job interviews, the interviewee is expected to smile and look and act pleasant regardless of the dread and nervousness they're experiencing.

* A good customer service representative or anyone else in the service industry who deals primarily with customers will, as part of their training, put on a Stepford Smile. Even if they're answering phones in a cubicle farm, they will be told to fake a smile so their voice sounds pleasant and friendly. Most superiors will demand that of these employees even if they're dealing with a terrible customer, with few exceptions (e.g. if there's a company mandate against dealing with people who are cursing at the employees).

* A "Stepford Laugh" is a common effect of marijuana. An uncontrollable laughter without any really pleasant distractions accompanying it.

** When the marijuana laugh is real (everything is funny), it's sometimes called "Cosmic Joke".

** Many have emotions all right, just not that of empathy. Others, on the other hand, end up committing horrible crimes with the simple goal to receive some kind of emotional stimulus, which quickly becomes addictive. The term is Shallow Affect, and 'describes the psychopath's tendency for genuine emotion to be short-lived and egocentric, with an overall cold demeanor'.

* [[Disney Theme Parks]] Cast members typically will put on a Stepford Smile, no matter what kind of [[Jerkass|rude guest]] they may face. It's actually part of their job description to be smiling and welcoming towards any guest.

* There's [http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1180396935#!/SonrioAunqueMeMueraPorDentro a Facebook page in Spanish] dedicated to this.

* The Westboro Baptist Church has a bunch of these people, most tragically in the children that have the misfortune to be part of it. During interviews they'll cheerfully talk about how you'll go to hell and reveal that they have no friends because everyone in school hates them due to their association with their church. The only time on TV that one person has slipped even a little, she was told by a reporter that if he thought that she was going to hell, he'd be sad. She cracked just a tad, then said she needed to go.

* A "stiff upper lip" is in a way the English equivalent of this.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:More Than Meets the Eye]]

[[Category:Smile Tropes]]

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