History Main / DramaticShattering

** And the [[FanNickname Man In Black]]'s shattering of the Metaphorical Wine Bottle of Metaphors at the end of "Ab Aeterno".

** Barok van Zieks from ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' has a seemingly endless amount of wine chalices that he either crushes with his hand or tosses into the torch behind him for emphasis every time he makes an argument in court or just simply to intimidate the defense. Most likely a reference to ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'''s Dracula to go along with van Zieks' vampire motif.

* Diego Armando in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', Case 3-4, grows so full of TranquilFury at recent events as to shatter a ''ceramic mug full of coffee'' in his ''bare hand''.

Compare SuperWindowJump (awesomely breaking glass to herald one's appearance or retreat), GlassShatteringSound, GrievousBottleyHarm, RockersSmashGuitars.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Deltarune}}'' [[spoiler: Queen]] has a glass handy for ''exactly this purpose.''

* In ''VideoGame/Deltarune'', [[spoiler: Queen]] has a glass handy for ''exactly this purpose.''

* ''Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker '': Kylo Ren forcefully smashes Emperor Palpatine’s Sith Wayfinder, to try and force his enemy, Rey, to join him by angering her and giving her no other way to get to Exegol

* The snow globe at the beginning of ''Film/CitizenKane''.

* The "Line Must Be Drawn Here" scene from ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', in which Captain Picard loses his temper, shouts two {{Big No}}s, and smashes the glass case holding his models of previous ''Enterprises''. The camera even holds for an extra moment on the model of the ship from the television series sliding off of the shelf before it hits the ground.
* TheMovie of ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' does this: when Laurie [[spoiler:figures out The Comedian was her father,]] she freaks out and punches a pillar of Jon's Martian glass palace, which leads to ''the whole structure'' shattering around them. [[RuleOfCool It's pretty awesome.]]
* Done with a dropped coffee cup at the end of ''Film/TheUsualSuspects''.
* In the film version of ''The Natural'', Roy Hobbs' home run ball shatters the stadium lights.

* Lampshaded and deconstructed in the UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} movie ''Taal'': upon hearing his nephew is going to marry the daughter of a musician (basically a commoner), Manev's uncle smashes a glass on the floor. Manev then proceeds to smash ''seven'' glasses on the floor, and then says, "If smashing a glass makes your argument more valid, then I have smashed seven glasses on the floor, so my argument is seven times more valid."

* In the film version of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Rosalie shatters a glass bowl of salad in rage when she learns that Bella has already eaten and her family's efforts to cook for her were in vain.
** The climax, taking place in a mirror lined ballet studio also has this in spades.
* ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' shows Renard punching clean through a glass table in frustration, showing his utter inability to feel pain.
* In ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'', where the queen's phantom army seem to be composed of black glass when killed, and in the climactic fight where amorphous humanoids composed of shards which fall from the queen's castle's ceiling fight the heroes. Her magic mirror though is composed of highly polished magic metal rather than glass.

* Used at the end of the pilot of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', and again with [[spoiler:Mrs. Arturo]] in "Double Cross".
* The ''Series/{{Lost}}'' episode "The Glass Ballerina" begins with the titular object falling in slow motion and shattering.
** And the [[FanNickname Man In Black]]'s shattering of the Metaphorical Wine Bottle of Metaphors at the end of "Ab Aeterno".

* The penultimate episode of ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' Series 2 uses a slow-motion dropped wineglass to illustrate the shattering of trust and friendship when Marsha finds out that Tim and Daisy aren't a couple and have been lying to her for years.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' used it in the episode where Sheridan's [[spoiler:dead first wife shows up at his door]] and Delenn drops a snowglobe to shatter in extreme slow-motion against the floor.
* The ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' opening credits for season six.
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Tyrion knocks a wineglass off the table during a meeting with his father and his bannermen as a metaphor for the chances of securing peace with the Starks and Jaime's release from them [[spoiler: now that Joffrey had killed Ned Stark]].

* A particularly cliched PortentOfDoom used in Filipino soaps: when a character is about to die in a scene, there is a quick cut to his (or a close friend's) house showing a glass falling and breaking[[note]] whether by someone accidentally dropping it, or just plain inexplicably[[/note]], and all his friends or relatives present reacting in shock to it. It then either cuts back to show whether he died, or was just badly hurt, or, an authority calls up to bring the bad news.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Year of Hell", Voyager finds itself in a war zone and keeps getting hammered by aliens with more powerful technology. Captain Janeway is searching through the ruins of her ready room and finds her lucky coffee cup is intact, which she takes as a good omen. Then they're attacked again, and as Janeway rushes for the bridge the vibrations knock the cup off the table so it shatters on the floor.
* In the season four finale of ''Series/TheWestWing'', when President Bartlet finds out Zoe, his youngest daughter has been kidnapped, he drops his drink glass.

* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. Kate Kane has her stepsister deliver a mobile phone to Commander Jacob Kane of Crow Security that [[BatPhone he can use to contact Batwoman]], but [[LikesClarkKentHatesSuperman her father responds by smashing it against the wall in a rage]], forcing Batwoman to make contact directly.

* Chapter 8 of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' starts with a {{flashback}} to a glass of water falling and shattering.

* In ''Webcomic/DarwinCarmichaelIsGoingToHell'', Az drops and shatters his [[PricelessMingVase bong]] as soon as he sees Ginny walk in, setting the stage for the dramatic [[http://dcisgoingtohell.com/259-the-visitations-partix/ confrontation that ensues]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' episode "Sleep Of Faith: La Rue D'Awakening", a pencil ''somehow'' shatters into a million pieces when Abe drops it from exhaustion after spending countless nights trying to help Cleopatra study for the [=PXJT=].

* [[spoiler: The Prototype boss on the penultimate floor of the Administrator's Tower]] in ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}} 2'' accents this with an OminousCrack when [[spoiler: breaking out of it's containment pod.]]

* ''Anime/CinderellaMonogatari'': One episode features Cinderella and her stepsisters being hired to clean the royal palace. The palace has a large china doll that has been in the royal family for generations. While cleaning the hallway, the stepsisters get into a fight and knock the doll off its pedestal, breaking it into pieces. As a result, the stepsisters are told that they won't be forgiven for it and are subsequently fired.

* In the movie ''Film/BicentennialMan'', a young Little Miss is playing on the beach with a glass figurine of a horse. She invites Andrew to hold it, but Andrew fumbles the delicate figurine, causing it to fall from his grasp and be shattered on a rock. Little Miss is understandably furious at this, since the horse was not only her favorite figure, but also irreplaceable. To remedy the situation, Andrew studies the art of wood carving, and carves for Little Miss a wooden horse figurine, thereby exhibiting creativity for the first time.

* In the ''Podcast/Wolf359''-episode "Do No Harm", [[spoiler: [[IronWoobie Lovelace]]]] insists on obstructing [[MadDoctor Hilbert]] to make sure he doesn't attempt to put more viruses in [[{{Adorkable}} Eiffel's]] system - ''while [[spoiler: Eiffel is in critical condition]].'' [[TheCaptain Minkowski]] finally has enough and orders [[spoiler: Lovelace]] to leave. When she tries to argue, Minkowski throws something made of glass at the wall, causing it to shatter.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' episode "Sleep Of Faith: La Rue D'Awakening", a pencil ''somehow'' shatters into a million pieces when Abe drops it from exhaustion after spending countless nights trying to help Cleopatra study for the [=PXJTs=].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' episode ''"Sleep Of Faith: La Rue D'Awakening"'', a pencil ''somehow'' shatters into a million pieces when Abe drops it from exhaustion after spending countless nights trying to help Cleopatra study for the [=PXJTs=].

-->-- WebSite/SFDebris on ''Series/BabylonFive''

* In the extended edition of ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Return of the King]]'', Aragorn gets into a Palantír staring match with Sauron, who shows him a taunting vision of a dying/dead Arwen. The Evenstar pendant she gifted him with falls to the floor and shatters very prettily and dramatically into glittering bits, though he's later seen wearing it, so it was apparently a hallucination. The shot of the pendant shattering is shown before this scene, divorced from context, throughout the trilogy; it symbolises Arwen's dependence on Aragorn's victory to survive.

* Plourr Ilo of the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' pours out her wineglass and then tosses it into the air to shatter when it falls, punctuating what she'd been saying about the tyranny of the nobles.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' - in "Passion", Giles heads up the stairs in his apartment with a bottle of wine and two glasses - and drops them seeing what's been set up for him.

* Averted in ''Spaceship Medic'' by Creator/RobertHeinlein. The protagonist does a DramaticDrop of his coffee cup on receiving some bad news, but because he's on a [[InSpace spaceship in the future]] it's made of unbreakable glass.

[[caption-width-right:256:[[WebAnimation/RoseOfVersaillesAbridged "Then take whatever was behind that, and break it too."]]]]

* ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'' had a particularly memorable scene in which Tetsuo breaks the window of his hospital room as his powers awaken. He also steps on a glass cup as he stumbles away from the Espers, in a rare aversion of SoftGlass.

* An episode of ''WebAnimation/RoseOfVersaillesAbridged'' [[DiscussedTrope discusses this]].

* In the ''Podcast/Wolf359''-episode "Do No Harm", [[spoiler: [[IronWoobie Lovelace]]]] insists on obstructing [[MadDoctor Hilbert]] to make sure he doesn't attempt to put more viruses in [[{{Adorkable}} Eiffel's]] system - ''while [[spoiler: Eiffel is in critical condition]].'' [[TheCaptain Minkowski]] finally has enough and orders [[spoiler: Lovelace]] to leave. When she tries to argue, Minkowski throws something made of glass at the wall, causing it to shatter.
-->'''Minkowski:''' [[TranquilFury Leave]]. ''Now.''