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The Un-Smile: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:vlcsnap9424242.jpg|link=The Big Bang Theory|thumb|400px| "We're here to see Koothrappali, not ''[[The Joker|kill Batman]]''."]]
{{quote|'''Natalie:''' You're freaking people out!
'''Monk:''' No, they'll just think we're in love.
'''Natalie:''' You don't look like you're in love. You look like the victim of an industrial accident.
|''[[Monk]]''}}
Those characters that [[The Stoic|never show any emotion]]? Or, if they do show emotion, it's always [[Perpetual Frowner|anger and/or despondency]]? Yeah, every single one of them was at one point told to "cheer up a little". The result? Horrible. It can range from merely discomforting to downright [[Squick]], as they just don't get it. Expect more or less horrified reaction from their friends. Sometimes appears alongside [[Ha Ha Ha No]] when they're especially not buying it.
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* You definitely wouldn't like to meet Kitano from ''[[Angel Densetsu]]'' [[Face of a Thug|in real life]], when [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/angel_densetsu/v01/c001/15.html he's] [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/angel_densetsu/v02/c007/25.html smiling].
* Near from [[Death Note]] [http://media.photobucket.com/image/Near+sMILE+/demonbane29/death%2520note/2457.jpg here]
** [[When She Smiles|Contrast with L.]]
* ''[[
* The first of the ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]!'' [[Light Novels]] describes [[The Stoic|Sousuke]]'s attempt at smiling for a student picture as making him look like he's suffering from [[wikipedia:Trigeminal neuralgia|facial neuralgia]]. The effort as depicted in the anime series looks similarly painful.
* In ''[[Darker than Black]]'', Contractors tend to have lessened emotions. When the [[Emotionless Girl]] companion of the main character wants to get emotions across [http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/323/d/1/yin_attempting_to_smile_by_lilith_zer0-d336dxk.jpg she puts her fingers to the corners of her mouth to] "[[Frozen Face|make]]" herself smile. This differs from most of the examples because of the specific [[Emotionless Girl]] trope appeal... this was considered [[Moe Moe|adorable]] by fans instead. July makes himself smile this way too. It's [[Uncanny Valley|not as cute]].
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* ''Sub-Audio'' stars a [[The Stoic|stoic]] [[Huge Schoolgirl]] that's mistaken for badass just because she doesn't/can't smile when the situation calls for it (girl talk, a guy offering tissues, etc.,) which [[I Just Want to Have Friends|really]] [[I Just Want to Be Loved|gets to her]] [[Not So Stoic|more than anyone realizes.]] It takes a [[Brother-Sister Incest|"session"]] with her [[Sibling Yin-Yang|Cute Shotaro Boy brother]] to cheer her up where despite a subtle, pleasant smile that comes naturally, [[Nightmare Face|her forced smile results in this trope]] [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|and her brother advises her to stick]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|to being stoic.]]
== Comic Books ==
== Comicbooks ==▼
* In ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'', Rat's attempt to smile actually caused him to literally explode.
* A ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' strip has Calvin's mom ordering him to smile for a photograph. He made a hideous face that was technically a smile, since his mouth was upturned.
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* During [[Kurt Busiek]]'s run on ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'', they become a UN organization, and have to get new photo IDs to go with the change of status. [[The Stoic|Vision's]] attempt to smile for his photo at Wasp's urging is ''priceless''.
* The Smiler from ''[[Transmetropolitan]]''. He spends most of the series showing his teeth, but The Unsmile really comes to a point of fracture in the finale where at one point his face is split in two separate panels, one showing a perfect smile and one a pair of eyes clearly set on murder.
* Not from a character known for never smiling, but a scary-as-hell fake smile nonetheless: Seth from ''[[9 Chickweed Lane]]'', suddenly caught discussing sex around a group of children, responds with an "innocent smile" that [https://web.archive.org/web/20110402032836/http://comics.com/9_chickweed_lane/2010-12-10/ looks like it was copypasted from SMILEDOG].
** Pretty much ''every'' character in this strip looks like some sort of horrifying deep-sea fish when they smile.
== Fan Works ==
* Fun was had at the end of the Pegasus arc in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The
{{quote|"Every time Kaiba smiles, a puppy dies."}}
* Likewise, the [[Narrator]] of a ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' parody [[media:NanohaGamerSEp03-031-003.jpg|here.]]
* [http://x-losfic.livejournal.com/6762.html#cutid1 The Master quickly dusted off his black suit and concentrated on perfecting the "charmingly smarmy" to "death-by-cyanide-rictus" ratio of his smile.]
* "Ms. Aoyama" from ''[[Ranma ½]]'' [[Crossover Fic]] ''[[Desperately Seeking Ranma]]''. Descriptions of her smile always indicate that it is anything but pleasant and reassuring; at least one character thinks of it solely as "that terrifying thing she did with her mouth". It frequently has an effect equal to or beyond that of a [[Slasher Smile]] without looking anything like one.
* In the 1991 version of ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'', when Lumiere tries to get the Beast to smile for his date with Belle, he grins so that all his fangs stick out.▼
▲* In ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'', when Lumiere tries to get the Beast to smile for his date with Belle, he grins so that all his fangs stick out.
* ''[[Corpse Bride]]'': Mr. and Mrs. Everglot are barely seen smiling throughout the entire movie. However, when they meet the Van Dorts for the first time, Mrs. Everglot quietly encourages her husband to smile. After a few moments of struggling, he ends up with a part-grimace, part-look-of-unadulterated-pain.
** [[Crowning Moment of Funny|His face creaked from the strain. Loudly.]]
* Yzma from ''[[The Emperor's
* In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', Judge Doom is interrogating some men at a bar for Rogers whereabouts. One of the barmen plays a joke on him, and everyone except Doom has a good laugh. Judge Doom stares at them for a few seconds, then smiles, causing everyone else to stop laughing.
* ''[[
▲* ''[[The Terminator|Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]'': the eponymous killer robot does this in a deleted scene (if not the [[Trope Codifier]] then at least a perfect textbook example): John tries to get him to smile, and so the T-800 scans the mouth of a grinning man talking on the telephone to see how it's done. Since he didn't scan the muscles above the mouth, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ANUP5-aW4E it leads to a bizarrely creepy smile that has Arnie still affecting a scowl from the cheekbones up]. When John suggests that he stop, the "smile" instantly leaves his face. Either a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] ([[The Comically Serious|the character helps]]) or a [[Narm]], depending on who you ask.
* ''[[The Addams Family|Addams Family Values]]'': After being forced to watch animated [[Disney]] movies for the better part of the day, Wednesday was asked to smile, and she did...
{{quote|'''Amanda:''' She's scaring me!}}
* Happens in ''[[Hancock]]'', where he makes a weird grimace-like smile asked to for a fan, which was good for a laugh. Then he does the exact same thing to a camera, and it goes into hilarious.
* In ''[[La Femme Nikita]]'', Nikita does an awkward grimace in the mirror when told to smile.
* One 1925 [[Buster Keaton]] comedy, ''Go West''
** Keaton borrowed that gesture from [[Lillian Gish]], who uses it in ''[[Broken Blossoms]]'' (1919) when her character is ordered to smile by her abusive father.
* Alien Orphan in ''[[The Specials]]''. Subverted in that he's not averse to smiling; he just hasn't quite got it down yet.
* Displayed by Smith in ''[[The Matrix]] Revolutions'', right after he
* As the Theater section below mentions, Malvolio (the pompous and priggish head servant in Shakespeare's ''Twelfth Night'') is often played this way. In Trevor Nunn's movie of it, Nigel Hawthorne does an excellent version of a forced smile by a man not given to smiling.
== Literature ==
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Baley shook his head. "Don't bother, R. Daneel. It doesn't do a thing for you." }}
** He is trained to chuckle several millennia later in ''Forward the Foundation''. And it took what appears to be weeks of coaching to actually make it seem genuine.
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' they mention that Mazrim Taim never smiles... although he has a kind of half-smile that is
* In ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Silver Chair]]'', when Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum were trying to think of a way to leave Harfang without being caught, part of the idea was to put them off their guard by pretending that they love being there and are looking forward to the Autumn Feast. To this end, [[The Eeyore|Puddleglum]] tells them they've got to be [[Have a Gay Old Time|"gay"]]. During his demonstration, "he assumed a ghastly grin."
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
*
{{quote|'''Otto:''' Smile, please.
'''Nobby:''' I am smilin'.
'''Otto:''' Stop smiling, please. }}
** Rincewind often does this intentionally:
{{quote|He had put a lot of thought into that grin. It was the sort of grin people use when they stare at your left ear and tell you in an urgent tone of voice that they are being spied on by secret agents from the next galaxy. It was not a grin to inspire confidence. More horrible grins had probably been seen, but only on the sort of grinner that is orange with black stripes, has a long tail and hangs around in jungles looking for victims to grin at.
** In ''[[
* Erik in ''[[Phantom of the Opera|Phantom]]'' tries to smile near the end, but his lips are so disfigured it comes out wrong.
* The [[Doctor Who]] [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novel ''Camera Obscura'' implies this, when the Doctor and Sabbath, his [[Enemy Mine|sometimes-antagonist]], are [[Mid-Battle Tea Break|interrupted]] during an argument that's getting a little violent. Knowing [[Deadpan Snarker|the kind of]] [[Noble Demon|character that]] [[Stout Strength|Sabbath is]], and the fact [[The Stoic|he probably hasn't beamed sincerely in decades]], and the fact the Doctor, [[Waif Fu|possibly half his size]], [[Muscles Are Meaningless|was just shoving him around]], will allow you to appreciate the futility of their forcing smiles.
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* Albreich in the [[Heralds of Valdemar]] is warned not to put on a false smile. He's scary enough when he is while scowling.
* In ''[[Mortal Engines]]'', Katherine Valentine thinks that [[Ultimate Authority Mayor|Magnus Chrome's]] smile looks like someone who had read a book on how to smile but has never actually seen one in real life.
== Live-Action TV ==
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** Like the canonical Holmes, however, Brett ''is'' capable of a genuine smile. Except when he does, it usually [[Cheshire Cat Grin|bodes badly]] for somebody.
* In one episode near the beginning of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Teal'c tries to smile under duress. You will either wet yourself laughing or be very afraid.
* Whenever Data tries to smile on ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', he [https://web.archive.org/web/20150910222553/http://www.notentirelystable.com/resources/_wsb_322x214_data+dancing.JPG really shouldn't.]
* Same goes for Seven of Nine of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''.
== New Media ==
* In ''[[Descendant of a Demon Lord]]'' Celes has tried smiling a few times and it tends to freak people out. One time she decided to [[What an Idiot!|channel her demonic energy]] while doing so and ''lost her eyes''. She can still see just fine, and has a glowing spot in each of her eye sockets [[Glowing Eyelights of Undeath|like some undead]]. Still, she smiled so bad she can no longer pass herself off as human (which strange hand aside, she used to be able to do before just fine. That's what gloves are for anyways).
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In [http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2011/11/29 this] ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' strip, Rat's attempt at a "charming smile" doesn't go well.
* [[Beetle Bailey]] normally has no trouble smiling, but this appears once when he's depressed. The camp psychiatrist first tells him to smile, but seeing the result asks him to go back to looking sad.
== Theatre ==
* Malvolio from [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' is usually treated this way, after being told in a letter (supposedly from his beloved) that his smiles become him.
{{quote|"Jove, I thank thee: I will smile; I will do everything that thou wilt have me."}}
== Video Games ==
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** Played straight after Operation Mi'hen. "Kimari practice smiling."
* [[Deadly Premonition|Agent Francis York Morgan]] is a nice enough guy, if [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|extremely]] [[Cloudcuckoolander|weird]], but his smile is permanently caught somewhere between "electrocution victim" and "serial rapist."
* [[Mass Effect|Commander Shepard]] seems to have this effect during [http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg15/scaled.php?tn=0&server=15&filename=lolwhutsheperd.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640 an infamous scene]{{Dead link}} from Tali's romance.
* ''[[Suikoden V]]'' has Sagiri, who was {{spoiler|abducted by the assassin group Nether Gate as a child and trained to smile disarmingly all the time. Their logic was that a pleasantly-smiling girl would put their victims off-guard. [[Gone Horribly Right|It worked so well]] that, until the end of the game, she's incapable of doing anything ''but'' smiling.}}
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* ''[[Basic Instructions]]'' offers us some... [[Shaped Like Itself|basic instructions]] on [http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2006/8/23/how-to-fake-a-smile.html how to make a fake smile look genuine]. Panels 1 and 3 look especially ridiculous.
{{quote|''Your hide will make a fine poncho''!}}
* [[Bloody Urban]]: Murray tries smiling for a change [https://web.archive.org/web/20130111101034/http://bloodyurban.smackjeeves.com/comics/1475025/smile/ with horrifying results].
* In ''[[Blip]]'', a very androgynous stranger on the bus gives K a beaming smile. K panics, and gives a half-smirk in response. ''"Just smile back, smile back... Yeah, that's natural."''
* ''[[Something
* ''[[Three Panel Soul]]'': "Giving someone a story to tell is easy. [http://threepanelsoul.com/2010/08/02/on-gift-giving/ All it takes is a smile.]"
* Amber from ''[[Shortpacked]]'' is told to smile for the customers. Her horrible grimace is, as Ethan sourly remarks, about how much smile they're paid for.
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* One of the advertisements for ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'' has Lenny, Angelika and Rocky each doing one for Julie who was complaining about them not smiling for the ad. When she sees these horrid smiles, she tells them it's okay to go back to frowning.
* From ''[[Concession]]'', [http://concessioncomic.com/index.php?pid=20090317 Joel.]
== Western Animation ==
* Occurs in ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
** Funnily enough, this is only after [[Flanderization]] changed her from a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type IV]] [[Anti-Hero]] to a [[Villain Protagonist]]. [[Early Installment Weirdness|At least a couple earlier episodes]] (including the pilot) ended with Mandy flashing an evil smirk.
* [[Tex Avery MGM Cartoons|Droopy]] usually has to say "I'm happy" to let the audience know, but he did grin in a promotional and it was ridiculous.
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{{quote|'''Robin:''' [[Not Himself|See what I mean about him acting strange]]?... He's ''smiling''.}}
** Yeah, well at least [[The Comically Serious|he]] wasn't laughing. Poor Harley, all she wanted to do was impress Mistah J....
** Even ''[[Batman: The
** Oddly enough, Bruce Wayne smiles a lot and quite convincingly. It makes you wonder if his Bruce/Batman dichotomy is just [[wikipedia:Two-Face|one chemical dip away from a mental breakdown...]]
* Ren, of ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'', gets one of these after donning the Happy Helmet in "Stimpy's Invention".
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* The "Super Evil" episode of ''[[Making Fiends]]'' has Vendetta attempting to smile like Charlotte after an evil magazine quiz they took rated Charlotte as more evil. After several pained struggles, she finally manages a smile. A [[Slasher Smile]].
* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Beezy gives a very forced one when having to pretend to be best friends with a [[Wicked Weasel|weavil]], whom he has serious [[Fantastic Racism]] toward.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has Azula. She can [http://media.photobucket.com/image/azula%20smirk/Sara_Shadow/Avatar/azula-smirkhd-thebeach.png smirk] without a problem, but [http://media.photobucket.com/image/azula%20smile/Vig0r/vlcsnap-223570.png sincere smiling?]
** Interestingly, she ''can'' give a real smile, after she practices a bit. She used a charming smile on a hapless party goer later in the evening, to great effect. Then she went on a tangent about how she and the partygoer would rule the world (in [[Ax Crazy|typical Azula style]]), which ruined the whole effect, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|and sent the poor guy running for the hills.]]
* [[Pinky and The Brain|The Brain's]] smile, at least in one episode. A character actually identifies him his best-effort smile.
* Occurs in the ''[[My Little Pony:
== Real Life ==
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** It's not even necessary to know how a "natural" smile works. It's enough to think of something that elicits a smiling response from you. It should be enough to fake a smile, because our facial expressions are a (relatively) simple response. In other words: if you have to pretend to smile, just pretend to have something to smile about. Amazingly, your brain will believe you.
* Seems to be standard for official pictures of the female members of the United States House and Senate.
** Examples: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Nancy_Pelosi%2C_official_photo_portrait%2C_111th_Congress.jpg Speaker Pelosi] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20131222065658/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Kosmas.png Representive Kosmas].
* [[H.P. Lovecraft]]
* [[Gordon Brown]]
** [[QI|Alan]] [[Jonathan Creek|Davies]] summarized the Gordon Brown smile's creepiness by saying "you can see him DECIDE to smile, which really ruins any smile."
* [[Richard Nixon]]. Whatever his mouth was doing, those two beady little ferret-eyes were always lurking right above it...
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** The man was an extreme introvert, and absolutely hated dealing with people on a personal level. It shows.
* [[wikipedia:Franz Xaver Messerschmidt|Franz Xaver Messerschmidt]] (1736-1783) [http://www.kuriositas.com/2010/04/madness-of-messerschmidt.html heads] sculptures contains a fine [http://www.flickr.com/photos/access/77566870/ example] making this (at least!) [[Older Than Radio]]
* Part of being Miss California is having a winning smile, So why does [https://web.archive.org/web/20091010234012/http://www.accesshollywood.com/content/images/90/230x306/90943_miss-california-carrie-prejean.jpg Carrie Prejean] not have one?
** This trope is ubiquitous among pageant girls. Disturbingly so.
*** Especially the children.
* There is something sincerely disturbing about Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff's [
* [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] [[Propaganda Machine|Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment]] Joseph Goebbels. [http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk1dy5YD9J1qigifbo1_500.jpg Eep.]
** Of course, knowing who he is adds to the creepiness, but still...
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Smile Tropes]]
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