History Main / TechnicallyASmile

* Toothless in ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' [[http://i.imgur.com/jJGGJjX.gifv attempts to smile]] when Hiccup smiles at him. It comes off as more endearing than scary though, because Toothless is UglyCute.

** Even Jon had this [[[https://assets.amuniversal.com/90ec73805f68012ee3c100163e41dd5b once]], as Garfield asked for "service with a smile" and Jon's creepy expression made him fear for his meal.

* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': [[BitchInSheepsClothing Mme. Bustier]] initially assumes that Zoé will naturally support her agenda of forcing the rest of the class to coddle [[SpoiledBrat Chloé]], since they're half-sisters. When Zoé reveals that she already knows about Chloé's long history of bullying, and that she empathizes with her victims since [[ASharedSuffering she's been bullied herself]], Bustier's smile transforms into one of these, turning much smaller as she clenches her teeth, one side of her mouth twitching from poorly contained irritation.

* Kiyo in ''Manga/ZatchBell'' frequently smiles when he's not at all happy with a situation; it's more of an indication of altogether irritation and/or embarrassment, and is usually accompanied with MindControlEyes. Other characters, like Folgore and [[AuthorAvatar the mangaka himself]], are almost always drawn with that kind of smile, though.

* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': [[BitchInSheepsClothing Mme. Bustier]] initially assumes that Zoé will naturally support her agenda of forcing the rest of the class to coddle [[SpoiledBrat Chloé]], since they're half-sisters. When Zoé [[NoJustNoReaction bluntly rejects]] her idea of forcing the whole class to throw a party celebrating their long-time bully in order to cheer her up, Bustier's smile transforms into one of these, turning much smaller as she clenches her teeth, one side of her mouth twitching from poorly contained irritation.

* Arba, ''Manga/MagiTheLabyrinthOfMagic'''s resident queen of the NightmareFace, gives one when the Djinn Paimon arrives to rescue Hakuei from Arba's DemonicPossession in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4975984 Maelstrom:]]''

* Michael in ''Series/BurnNotice'' often laughs and smiles, but rarely conveys actual warmth, having great difficulty showing emotion thanks to his abusive childhood and training as a spy. Notably, his fake smiles when dealing with his family are ''much'' more obvious than the ones he uses to deal with criminals, due to their somewhat strained relationship. Some of his antagonists have similar mannerisms. Take a good look at ''Victor's'' smiles sometime; he looks like [[AxCrazy he wants to bite out your throat]].
* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'': "Honey, your teeth are showing, but your lips are tense."
* [[TheButcher Hilary Briss]] is always doing this on ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen''. The bottom half of his face is split in an enormous SlasherSmile, but his eyes remain the same. Actor Mark Gatiss must have spent a lot of time in front of the mirror practicing, because it's creepy.

* Cromartie's attempts to smile in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' are not convincing.

''[Dukat grimaces]''\\

'''Dukat:''' ''[through clenched teeth]'' I'm ''smiling''...!
* ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'': Léodagan is said to have an extremely disturbing smile, as does his daughter.
-->'''Arthur:''' You have your father's smile.\\
'''Guenièvre:''' Really? ''[smiles]''\\
'''Arthur:''' Yeah, don't do that, it's unsettling.

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse.'' One of the things Lupus Garou, [[HumanityEnsues wolves who turn into humans]], have to get used to when dealing with people is the difference between a smile and a threatening grimace, when both are likely to show teeth.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization IV]]'': In the event that Montezuma is furious with you (a very common occurrence unless you happen to follow the same religion he does), he'll spend his diplomatic meetings baring a grin that could crack a sink, teeth grinding the whole way until he loses patience and screams in frustration.

* There are about three instances where [[TheHero Atsuki Saijo]] smiles in ''VisualNovel/LuxPain''. The first is when he fights with Mika over the strawberry shortcake. The second one is forced on him by Akira in archive 1. The third one, which is the most disturbing of them all is [[spoiler:Atsuki loses it when Edward calls him a hypocrite. Not only does he smile, but he laughs [[ActorAllusion similar]] to [[Manga/DeathNote Light]]...]]
* Sans the skeleton from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is... well, a skeleton. As such, his face is stuck in a permanent smile. Thankfully, Sans is a silly, fun dude, so the constant grinning is usually genuine. But on those rare occasions that he's being serious (such as [[spoiler:if you kill his brother, or murder every single monster in the Underground]]), then the effect is ''really'' chilling. It also gives a lot of weight to the description that "He [[WhenHeSmiles looks]] happy." when looking at a photograph he holds onto, especially when you know [[spoiler: that there's [[StepfordSmiler more to his outward demeanor]]]].

** Rocky is also a master of this as shown [[http://lackadaisycats.com/comic.php?comicid=78 here.]]

* ''Webcomic/BasicInstructions'', twice. Had its own devoted strip [[http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2006/8/23/how-to-fake-a-smile.html here,]] and sent up with [[http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2010/2/28/how-to-pose-a-photo.html "what is a smile but a grimace of happiness?"]]
* Luca in ''Webcomic/TheMeek''. [[http://www.meekcomic.com/2009/11/03/2-11/ Just to clarify, in Pasori culture, toothy smiling does not connote good humor.]]
* Jones of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' [[spoiler:had to learn all emotional responses through observation and mimicry, having none of her own.]] She [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1127 mentions to Antimony]] that she knows how to smile in theory, but in practice it's unnerving. The actual result isn't shown, only Annie's reaction.
* ''Webcomic/MareInternum'' has a benign version that's PlayedForLaughs: Kallakore is of a Martian species with sharklike, mostly inflexible faces, so when Mike asks her to humour him and try a smile, she [[https://www.marecomic.com/comic/ch3-page-53/ opens her mouth]] awkwardly.
-->'''Kallakore:''' Er- ...ha?

* [[WesternAnimation/TheBatman The Joker's]] gas victims. They die with a smile on their faces. After laughing uncontrollably. In pain.

* Octus gives his best go at a full grin on ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''. It's quite off, but he really does mean it.

* In WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons episode, "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", as part of a ScavengerHunt, Mr. Burns needs a photo of himself with a smiling child. To him it sounded easy, but when he rides on Springfield Elementary's school bus, all the children are deathly frightened of him ("it's the Boogyeman's grandfather!") and Burns forcing his decrepit face to smile only made things worse.

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* Played with in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' When BigBad Fate attempts an EvilLaugh, it seriously freaks out Asuna, because "it doesn't touch his eyes".
* Kiyo in ''Manga/ZatchBell'' frequently smiles when he's not at all happy with a situation; it's more of an indication of altogether irritation and/or embarrassment, and is usually accompanied with MindControlEyes. Other characters, like Folgore and [[AuthorAvatar the mangaka himself]], are almost always drawn with that kind of smile, though.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''
** Whenever CombatMedic captain Retsu Unohana smiles, especially with her eyes closed, that is usually because someone has ticked her off and they best stop whatever they're doing or else.
** Kensei trying to comfort Hisagi in the Turn Back The Pendulum arc with a smile, which instead scared the poor youngster even more.

* It is noted about [[AloofBigBrother Sesshoumaru]] from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' that if he ever smiles, it is generally not a good thing.

* Sunako Nakahara from ''Manga/TheWallflower'', when she is asked to smile, smiles like this.

* When Ren of ''Manga/SkipBeat'' gets angry, he doesn't shout or frown. Instead, he smiles. He smiles so hard that the BishieSparkle can blind onlookers. Kyoko and Yashiro find this to be incredibly terrifying.

* [[SnakePeople Sasasul]] in ''Manga/ACentaursLife'' makes an attempt to smile like a human, but since she has a giant snake head the act of showing all her teeth makes [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Himeno]] [[{{Fainting}} pass out]].

--->'''Kaiba:''' ''[referring to Noah]'' Oh my god! What's wrong with his face? Guys, are you seeing this? What the hell's wrong with his face?!\\
'''Joey:''' ''[has the Joey Chin expression]'' I fail to see the problem!\\

** In times Joey is unavailable to [[SarcasmMode grace the screen with his winning smile]], such as [[spoiler: when Yugi and Kaiba are about to potentially end Dartz, because his soul was already stolen prior]], Tristan is more than happy to fill in. In fact, when Joey is available, they sometimes come in twos.

* In an issue of [[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe Special Missions]], the Joes go to a rural house to rescue a family from terrorists. They see one guy who always has a [[SlasherSmile crazy-looking grin]] on his face. They initially assume that he is one of the terrorists. Turns out he's one of the hostages, a Marine vet who took shrapnel to the face in Vietnam. This left him with a rictus, a facial spasm that causes a permanent teeth-baring grin.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/12/16 Calvin does a grotesquely awful/hilarious one for a photograph.]] (Think [[Creator/JimCarrey "Fire Marshall Bill"]] from ''Series/InLivingColor'')
-->'''Dad:''' ''[{{Face Palm}}ing]'' CALVIN!\\

** [[https://garfield.com/comic/2003/08/17 This Sunday comic from 2003]] has Jon complimenting Garfield's enormous smile, saying "it's nice to see you in a good mood for a change!" In this case, the "smile" is [[spoiler:a grimace of agony from sitting on a mousetrap.]]

--> The witch grins, her face remembered, but it is a cruel mockery, not only of Paimon but of the very concept of a smile.
* ''Fanfic/ComeAsYouAre'': When Steve Rogers has some FBI agents sent to spy on him trussed up and is standing over their kneeling, ziptie-restrained forms totally not waving his gun at them, one of the agents tells Steve he's crazy. Steve responds to this with a smile, "feeling his face stretch back over his teeth".

* Toothless in ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' [[http://i.imgur.com/jJGGJjX.gifv attempts to smile]] when Hiccup smiles at him. It comes off as more endearing than scary though, because Toothless is UglyCute.
* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Lumiere attempts to coach the Beast in order to help him win Belle over, "Give her a dashing, debonair smile. Come, come, show me the smile." The Beast tries, but the result mostly involves baring a mouthful of very sharp fangs and is not remotely dashing or debonair. Mrs. Potts, who is also trying to coach him, is aware, however of what it looks like, and quickly warns him not to "frighten the poor girl."
* A scene late in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' has Mowgli running away in disgust after both Bagheera and Baloo tell him it's time to leave the jungle. He eventually finds himself wandering through a bleak wasteland that's dangerously close to Shere Khan's territory. A quartet of vultures who look a lot like Music/TheBeatles (and sound like them, too) befriend Mowgli and try to cheer him up - but Mowgli is so miserable that when one of the vultures says: "Give us a smile," all he can do is halfheartedly curl up one corner of his mouth.

* Wednesday in the film ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'' makes a pseudo-smile after an attempted brainwashing by being subjected to Disney movies. [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pKb5s3_b7tA/Uu_1mhYDsxI/AAAAAAAAAWI/yzTtdYnz4Eg/s1600/Wednesday+Addams+Smiles.jpg It's incredibly creepy.]]

* When ''Film/{{Hancock}}'' is beginning to reform, he gives an imitation of a smile at a press conference. It looked more like a snarl.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' features one from Elsa, after she "helps" Donovan choose the "right" grail.
* Michael Keaton's Film/{{Batman|1989}} smiles a couple of times. It's easily the scariest expression he's got.
* The same goes for Creator/PierceBrosnan's Film/JamesBond, who only ever smiles ''sincerely'' when he is murdering human beings.
* In ''Film/BeverlyHillsChihuahua 2'', Pedro the pitbull makes a snarling-like face that many say is a smile. Many characters in the film either show disgust, fright, or exasperation towards this, especially since this got him kicked out of the dog show. Later on, he uses it against robbers, saying "This ISN'T a smile!"

* Invoked verbatim when describing Duv Galeni when pushed to his breaking point in the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga''.
* One of the first things Waver Velvet notices about his student Flat Escardos in ''Literature/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' is that when he smiles the muscles move in the wrong order. This is because Flat is such a broken person when Waver first meets him that he has to fake smiles using magecraft.
* Seems to occur about once a chapter throughout ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series, with the phrase "didn't reach his/her eyes" attached about 80% of the time. In the latest book, one of the Wise Ones makes a comment about Aes Sedai and smiles to show she's joking. The narration notes that she only succeeds in baring her teeth.

* A staple of Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'' books. Kzin are predators, born and bred. So when you can see all of their teeth, this is not a ''friendly'' expression. Likewise, humans dealing with Kzin are well-advised to keep their mouths closed when they smile -- they may be blunt little monkey-teeth but baring them is still a threat/challenge.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Sansa Stark immediately notices that [[ManipulativeBastard Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]] has this kind of smile when meeting him for the first time.
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', Wednesday has a habit of grinning without a hint of amusement or kindness, and it doesn't take long before Shadow is reminded of chimpanzees baring their teeth to show hostility.

* From Creator/CharlesStross' short "[[Literature/TheLaundryFiles The Concrete Jungle]]":
-->[Angleton] ''smiles'', and despite all the horrible sights I've seen today so far, I hope most of all that I never see it again before the day I die.
* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', human Lije Baley asks humanoid robot Daneel Olivaw, "Can you smile?" Daneel ''can'', technically, but it doesn't reach his eyes and Baley finds it more unnerving than reassuring.
* Javert from ''Literature/LesMiserables''. "Would you like my hat?"
* Morrachane, an awful woman in one of the ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' books, has such an unnatural-looking smile that it takes the main character a second to figure out what her face is doing.

* Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse:
** ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Wedge Antilles sometimes wears a smile that's pure predator. As he gets older it becomes even more so - in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' he once flashes a smile at someone "like he was a rancor, and they were made of meat."
** A good deal of the works, particularly that which took place during her political career, depict some variant of the sentence "Leia grinned, showing teeth," giving the notion that the gesture is not particularly friendly.
** In ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}'', Mace Windu makes at least one attempt to smile, something that he hasn't done in over ten years. He quickly stops trying.

* Quite commonplace in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' universe, with ExactWords eventually showing up when things get '''really''' nasty. See the quotes page. Also fairly common in the ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'' series by [[Creator/DavidWeber the same author.]]
* The Abh are described as having elevated this to an art form in ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars''. The narration points out that while it looks like a smile, in their culture, it's a sign that they are going to destroy you, and it's compared to getting a bouquet of scorched roses. When it was animated, the version Lafiel [[http://seikai.wikia.com/wiki/Abriel_Lafiel?file=Death_Glare_of_Lafiel.JPG displays at one point]] to Baron Febdash after he ''really'' pisses her off was... pretty intimidating.
* In Creator/RoaldDahl's ''Literature/TheWitches'' the first witch the protagonist encounters is described thusly:
-->When most people smile their lips go side-to-side. This lady's went up-and-down, showing lots of her teeth and gums.
* Mentioned in ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld''. A "mouth smile" without an "eye smile" is said to look disturbingly wrong. Therefore, the protagonist's father skips the mouth smile entirely, smiling ''only'' with his eyes.
* Nacht, in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', has a smile. Well, in a sense, anyway. It's [[TakeOurWordForIt never accurately described]], but it's been used quite successfully as an interrogation technique.
* In ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'':
** The Stone Eaters are (occasionally) human-shaped creatures of living stone whose imitations of humanity usually fall straight into the UncannyValley. When they bare their teeth, it's as a threat display to each other, enhanced by the fact that their teeth are diamonds.
** The Guardians are EmpoweredBadassNormal {{Mage Killer}}s implanted with a shard of [[spoiler:the [[GaiasVengeance Evil Earth]]'s core]], who go through the motions of smiling simply because it releases endorphins that ease the constant grinding pain of what's been done to them.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', the nascent HumanoidAbomination [[spoiler:Padan Fain]] is often described as baring his teeth at people, both because he's usually trying to threaten them and because SanitySlippage from [[spoiler:being {{Mind Rape}}d by the GodOfEvil and then {{fus|ionDance}}ing with a ghost of pure HatePlague]] has left him with very little awareness of normal human behaviour.

* ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'': Azucena Esquivel Plata doesn’t even attempt to hide her bitterness and resentment.
* In ''Literature/ColinFischer'', Colin notes that the look in his cruel classmate Rudy's eyes never seems to change, no matter what his mouth is doing.

** Whenever CombatMedic captain Retsu Unohana smiles, that is usually because someone has ticked her off and they best stop whatever they're doing or else.
** Kensei trying to comfort Hisagi in the Turn Back The Pendulum arc.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', this golden moment between Gul Dukat and Weyoun, after a nasty barroom brawl between Cardassian and Jem'Hadar soldiers:

* The Abh are described as having elevated this to an art form in ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars''. The narration points out that while it looks like a smile, in their culture, it's a sign that they are going to destroy you. When it was animated, the version Lafiel [[http://seikai.wikia.com/wiki/Abriel_Lafiel?file=Death_Glare_of_Lafiel.JPG displays at one point]] to Baron Febdash after he ''really'' pisses her off was... pretty intimidating.

* The ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fandom has the infamous "false smile"; a serene and disarmingly terrifying smile that does not show teeth and does reach the eyes of whoever's smiling but has a blatantly false pleasantness about it, usually accentuated by the smiler's face receiving some omninous shading. It's most commonly seen either gracing the face of [[AllLovingHero Byakuren Hijiri]], whenever her saint-like, motherly patience is starting to wear thin, or [[TheDreaded Yuuka Kazami]], whenever her patience has run out. In the former case you may consider yourself very, very lucky as you're likely "only" in for a scolding. In the latter case you may consider yourself very, very lucky if there's enough of you left to send home to your family in a match box.

* Arba, ''Manga/{{Magi}}'''s resident queen of the NightmareFace, gives one when the Djinn Paimon arrives to rescue Hakuei from Arba's DemonicPossession in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4975984 Maelstrom:]]''

* In WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons episode, "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", as part of a ScavengerHunt, Mr. Burns needs a photo of himself with a smiling child. To him it sounded easy, but when he rides on Springfield Elementary's school bus, all the children are deathly frightened of him ("it's the Boogyeman's grandpa!") and Burns forcing his decrepit face to smile only made things worse.

* It is noted about [[AloofBigBrother Sesshoumaru]] from ''Manga/InuYasha'' that if he ever smiles, it is generally not a good thing.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* [[EldritchAbomination Kuyo Suo]] does this in the 10th ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' book. [[CharacterNarrator Kyon]] calls it "a perfect simulation of a smile".

* The Abh in ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars''. The narration points out that while it looks like a smile, in their culture, it's a sign that they are going to destroy you. Lafiel [[http://seikai.wikia.com/wiki/Abriel_Lafiel?file=Death_Glare_of_Lafiel.JPG displays it at one point]] to Baron Febdash after he ''really'' pissed her off.

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': One of the few signs that Ford is a HumanAlien.

* The Abh are described as having elevated this to an art form in ''LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars''. When it was animated the version Lafiel gave was... pretty intimidating.

* Mentioned in ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld''. A "mouth smile" without an "eye smile" is said to look [[UncannyValley disturbingly wrong]]. Therefore, the protagonist's father skips the mouth smile entirely, smiling ''only'' with his eyes.

* Sans the skeleton from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is... well, a skeleton. As such, his face is stuck in a permanent smile. Thankfully, Sans is a silly, fun dude, so the constant grinning is usually genuine. But on those rare occasions that he's being serious (such as [[spoiler:if you kill his brother, or murder every single monster in the Underground]]), then the effect is ''really'' chilling.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Kensei trying to comfort Hisagi in the Turn Back The Pendulum arc.

** In times Joey is unavailable to [[SarcasmMode grace the screen with his winning smile]], such as [[spoiler: when Yugi and Kaiba are about to potentially end Dartz, because his soul was already stolen prior]], Tristan is more than happy to fill in. In fact, sometimes, they come in twos.

* [[EldritchAbomination Kuyo Suo]] does this in the 10th ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' book. [[TheNarrator Kyon]] calls it "a perfect simulation of a smile".

'''Lottie:''' That's not a smile. That's the face you get when somebody says "cheese"... then takes two minutes to work out how to use the camera. That ''hurts''.

* Played with in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' When BigBad Fate attempts an EvilLaugh, it seriously freaks out Asuna, because "it doesn't touch his eyes".

* [[Manga/BlackLagoon Balalaika]] does this occasionally. It is on those occasions that the audience is reminded that, despite her [[AffablyEvil affability]], she's still a ruthless mass murderer.

* Arba, ''Manga/{{Magi}}'''s resident queen of the NightmareFace, gives one when the Djinn Paimon arrives to rescue Hakuei from Arba's DemonicPossession in [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4975984 Maelstrom:]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblem 7'', Raven attempts to smile during one of his support conversations. It hurts his face to do so.