History Main / WipeThatSmileOffYourFace

* An ad for Hardee's (and, this troper presumes, Carl's Jr.) depicts a robot unwrapping a sandwich from the sponsor, putting it to his face and recognizing that he has no mouth. Slogan: Machines can't eat them. They shouldn't make them.[[/folder]]

* An ad for Hardee's (and, this troper presumes, Carl's Jr.) depicts a robot unwrapping a sandwich from the sponsor, putting it to his face and recognizing that he has no mouth. Slogan: Machines can't eat them. They shouldn't make them.

* The mutant Chamber in MarvelComics blew off his entire lower face when his powers manifested. Technically, he can't even speak -- he talks telepathically.

* On a particular poster for the ''SilentHill'' movie, the girl pictured has a perfectly normal set of eyes. What's disturbing here is the fact that she has no mouth.

A character's mouth is removed some means. ''Only'' the mouth. Any further and they would become TheBlank. As the old saying goes: [[EyelessFace see no evil]], hear no evil, ''[[WipeThatSmileOffYourFace speak no evil]]''.

Happens in book 26 of ''MahouSenseiNegima'', when a captive Anya is loudly protesting whatever Fate is doing to Asuna, and Homura makes a swift gesture with a finger, resulting in Anya's mouth closing like a zipper.

* Toward the end of ''{{Beetlejuice}}'', when Barbara tries speaking three time the name of the eponymous ghost to banish him back, Bettlejuice uses his Reality Warper powers to cover her lips with a zipper. However, she just opens it up and manages another "Beetlejuice". Now truly annoyed, Beetlejuice conjure a metal plate to completely shut her mouth.

* ''{{The X-Files}}'', episode "Je Souhaite", where a LiteralGenie is passed around. One man wishes another man would "shut up". You know what happens...

** It also happens to Xander in ''Power Rangers: Mystic Force'' when he is almost completely turned into a tree.

->''Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is [[OnePhoneCall a phone call]] if you are [[OhCrap unable to speak?]]''
-->-- '''Agent Smith''', ''TheMatrix''

[[folder: Anime ]]

* ''SpiritedAway'': Yubaba seals Chihiro's mouth shut with a "zipping up" motion of her hand.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In the ''BooksOfMagic'', one fey has his mouth magically removed when he wouldn't shut up.

* During the Emperor Joker storyline in Comicbook/{{Superman}}, Joker removes Comicbook/{{Batman}}'s mouth. Batman then communicates by Morse code using his jaw. [[CrazyPrepared Because he's Batman]].

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''TheMatrix'': Agent Smith, as per the above quote, does this to Neo, shortly before having a bug inserted into him via his navel in a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel really nightmarish scene]]. Then Neo wakes up, and we're convinced that it was AllJustADream. [[spoiler:Then Neo gets a gun stuck into his face during the drive to where Morpheus is and the bug is extracted and thrown out the window, leading to Neo's first "holy shit" moment of the movie]].
* ''[[TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone: The Movie]]'': A [[CreepyChild young]] RealityWarper does this to his sister when she snaps at him. [[hottip:*:A remake of the TV episode "It's a Good Life" -- the original did not feature the trope.]]
* At one point in ''{{Beetlejuice}}'', the titular ghoul causes a riveted metal plate to appear over a victim's mouth to keep her from saying his name. This is the more successful upgrade to his first attempt at silencing her by turning her lips into a zipper (she just unzipped her mouth).
* In ''[[Film/XMen X-Men Origins: Wolverine]]'', Striker [[spoiler:finally finds a way to shut Wade up]] by first sewing, and in the finished version, plastering his mouth shut. [[spoiler:TheStinger shows the decapitation/fall of the head somehow opened it again.]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The last sentence of the PaulJennings story ''Santa Claws'' has one of the characters utter "[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor I wish you didn't have]] [[LiteralGenie such a big mouth.]]"
* In ''PerdidoStreetStation'', there is an ex-con described who because he wouldn't rat on his associates, was "Remade" without a mouth. In order to eat, he cut a hole into his face.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''TheXFiles'', "Je Souhaite," where a LiteralGenie is passed around. One man wishes another man would "shut up." You know what happens...
* In ''StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Q2", q (Q's son) does this to Neelix. On top of ''removing his vocal chords.''
* The episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' entitled "Witch".
* In one episode of ''[[BloodTies Blood Ties]]'' a voodoo witch does this to Coreen.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* ''MagicTheGathering'': "All the wizardry in the world has to pass through[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191083 one small and easily sealed door."]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''LegacyOfKain: SoulReaver'', Raziel's lower jaw is one of the many casualties of his time spent dissolving in the Abyss. [[FridgeLogic Oddly enough, this in no way hinders his ability to speak]]. Given his status as a spectral ghoul capable of shifting between the worlds of the living and the dead, the superfluous nature of all his internal organs given his missing abdomen and the many reality-defying powers he has, his jaw-deficit Shakespearian elocution is a fairly minor facet of his abilities.
* The Outlaw ending in ''TwistedMetal: Head-On'' features the Roberts siblings arguing over how to handle Calypso -- shoot him or arrest him? Finally one of them makes a fatal mistake - ''"I wish you would just shut up!"'' Now, yelling that in front of ''[[JackassGenie Calypso]]''. [[hottip:*:It is an apparent ShoutOut to Neo's de-mouthing in ''TheMatrix''.]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In ''{{Kagerou}}'', this happens to Tcaolin and Tonbo (her current host) when they are captured, and even once they split Tonbo stays like this a while until Tcaolin shows up later and returns Tonbo's speech, which leads to a CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
-->'''Tonbo''': [[http://www.electric-manga.com/26/16.html G-Go f-fuck yourself... M-My lady.]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''DuckDodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century'', Dodgers demands that Eager Young Space Cadet Porky perform the TropeNamer. He does so [[TheFaceless rather literally.]]

* ''HouseOfMouse'': "Congratulations, you would like to: Pay your bill."

* ''TheTwilightZone'': Used as a Punishment.

* ''MagicTheGathering'': "All the wizardry in the world has to pass through][[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191083 one small and easily sealed door."]]

[[caption-width-right:320:[[IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream Neo has no mouth. And he must scream]].]]

->"Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is [[OnePhoneCall a phone call]] if you are [[OhCrap unable to speak?]]"

As the old saying goes: [[EyelessFace see no evil]], [[EarWorm hear no evil]], ''[[WipeThatSmileOffYourFace speak no evil]]''.

Where NoMouth is a deliberate animation style where characters aren't shown (but rather only implied) to have mouths, this is where a character's mouth is removed by external (or sometimes internal) means. ''Only'' the mouth, however -- any further and they would become TheBlank.

Related to EyelessFace. If this is done to a character as punishment, it could lead to AndIMustScream (which makes it, literally, ''IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'').

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* In ''SpiritedAway'', Yubaba seals Chihiro's mouth shut with a "zipping up" motion of her hand. Also, When "No Face" [[spoiler: begins eating everyone in the bath house]] he stops by one spirit and says, "Wipe that smile off your face......[[spoiler: YOU'RE STILL SMILING!" And then eats him.]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

* Arseface, from ''{{Preacher}}'', was a teenage boy who tried to kill himself, in imitation of Kurt Cobain, by shooting himself in the face with a shotgun. It didn't work. He was left with a giant gaping hole instead of a mouth. [[spoiler:He eventually goes on to become a world famous rock star.]]
** Based on the real-life botched suicide of James Vance, although that was allegedly due to hearing subliminal messages in JudasPriest songs.
* In the third issue of the original ''BooksOfMagic'', one fey has his mouth magically removed when he wouldn't shut up.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Agent Smith, as per the above quote, does this to Neo in ''TheMatrix'', shortly before having a bug inserted into him via his navel in a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel really nightmarish scene]]. Then Neo wakes up, and we're convinced that it was AllJustADream. [[spoiler:Then Neo gets a gun stuck into his face during the drive to where Morpheus is and the bug is extracted and thrown out the window, leading to Neo's first "holy shit" moment of the movie]].
* Punishment in the film version of ''TheTwilightZone''.

* In ''[[Film/XMen X-Men Origins: Wolverine]]'', Striker [[spoiler:finally finds a way to shut Wade up]] by first sewing, and in the finished version, plastering his mouth shut.
** [[spoiler:TheStinger shows the decapitation/fall of the head somehow opened it again.]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72T3ev1Ykts: A short film on YouTube]] features a man in a bathroom. He starts shaving his facial hair, then he literally shaves his face clean off.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* The last sentence of the PaulJennings story "Santa Claws" has one of the characters utter "[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor I wish you didn't have]] [[LiteralGenie such a big mouth.]]"

* The Andalites in {{Animorphs}} are a species born without mouths, that communicate with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Thought Speak]].

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* One of the more disturbing [[VictimOfTheWeek victims]] in ''CSINewYork'' was a man who had his jaw blasted off by an exploding cigar.

* In ''StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Q2", q (Q's son) does this to Neelix.
** On top of ''removing his vocal chords.''
** [[TheScrappy Neelix?]] Kid wasn't all bad, then.
* The episode of BuffyTheVampireSlayer entitled "Witch".

* In one of the most famous episodes of ''TheTwilightZone,'' a young RealityWarper does this to his sister when she snaps at him.
** That was actually a segment from from ''Twilight Zone: TheMovie''. Said segment was a remake of the episode "It's a Good Life," in which [[RealityWarper An]][[CreepyChild th]][[EnfanteTerrible on]][[CompleteMonster y]] did ''not'' do that to anyone. [[TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior He did plenty of other]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel things, though.]]

* A wizard does this to Tommy in Power rangers: Dino thunder.
** It also happens to Xander in Power rangers: Mystic force when he is almost completely turned into a tree.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* A signature Epideromancer attack in UnknownArmies. One spell allows the caster to manipulate an area of flesh roughly the size of one's palm. Its most common use in canon is to seal a victim's mouth and nose shut. Have we mentioned it's a horror game? Have we mentioned that Epideromancy is freely available (beyond the craziness and sadism required to get magic power from self-mutilation) to player characters?
* [[MagicTheGathering "All the wizardry in the world has to pass through]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191083 one small and easily sealed door."]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* One of the appearance options for male Forsaken in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' is a missing lower jaw, with the tongue hanging down and everything.
* Tiring of her brother's smart-aleck comments in ''CliveBarkersUndying'', Bethany [[spoiler: chained up Aaron in a dungeon and ripped off his jaw before leaving him to be ''flensed alive by rats'', then hid it in her cottage! The [[PlayerCharacter PC]], while being repeatedly attacked by hoards of things sicced on him by the tormented Aaron, must find the jaw, [[ViolationOfCommonSense break into the dungeon Aaron is chained up in, and place it back on Aaron's corpse]]]].
* A common {{Fanon}} speculates that's what happened to [[KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Malak]]. Too bad it DIDN'T shut him up.
* The Protoss in StarCraft have no mouths. Them being a telepathic race, this seems like no big deal, until you read the race histories in the manual which [[FridgeLogic has several Protoss eating]] in one part.
** Several novels point out that they feed off sunlight, similar to plants. How they get minerals and nutrients into their bodies is not explained. Perhaps, it's too gross for a human to even think about.
* In ''LegacyOfKain: SoulReaver'', Raziel's lower jaw is one of the many casualties of his time spent dissolving in the Abyss. [[FridgeLogic Oddly enough, this in no way hinders his ability to speak]].
** Given his status as a spectral ghoul capable of shifting between the worlds of the living and the dead, the superfluous nature of all his internal organs given his missing abdomen and the many reality-defying powers he has, his jaw-deficit Shakespearian elocution is a fairly minor facet of his abilities.
* The Outlaw ending in ''TwistedMetal: Head-On'' features the Roberts siblings arguing over how to handle Calypso - shoot him or arrest him? Finally one of them makes a fatal mistake - ''"I wish you would just shut up!"'' Now, yelling that in front of ''[[JackassGenie Calypso]]''...
** Which is an apparent ShoutOut to Neo's de-mouthing in ''TheMatrix''.
[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC: WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* A common LooneyTunes gag is the "zipper over the mouth" variety of muffling a character.
** In ''Bugs and Thugs'', GiantMook Mugsy takes the expression "button your lip" [[LiteralMinded in the most literal way possible]].

* In ''EdEddNEddy'', there is an episode in which Ed has a nightmare that his mother is... Johnny 2x4. At some point, Johnny tells Ed to "wipe that smile off of his face," which causes Ed's mouth to disappear. If that weren't horrifying enough, Johnny then sentences Ed to be tossed into a pit of shark-like versions of the Kanker sisters, which causes Ed to '''TEAR HIS FACE BACK OPEN''' to get a new mouth to scream with. [[NightmareFuel Yikes.]]

* In an episode of TeenTitans, an [[AlternateUniverse alternate]] version of Robin and {{Expy}} of Bat-Mite who acts like a crazed fanboy and has a magic finger, breaks reality, making the world look like, as Cyborg put it, "it came off my grandma's fridge." Beast Boy loses his mouth, and in order to talk, pulls Raven's off and puts it on his face. He then talks with her voice. Later, when trying to figure out how fix it, Raven pulls off Cyborg's mouth and puts it on her face, then talks with his voice while Cyborg uses Starfire's mouth to talk with before they all get fed up with it and give everyone their proper mouth back.
* Nobody mentioned IAmWeasel yet? An episode where Baboon's hand becomes magical and he makes wishes with his hand. Near the end, Weasel gets fed up with the wishes he makes, he wishes Baboon to shut up and, before Baboon can make another wish, his mouth disappears.
* [[HouseofMouse "Congratulations, you would like to: Pay your bill."]]

<<|HorrorTropes|>>
<<|OthernessTropes|>>

->"Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is [[OnePhoneCall a phone call]] if you are [[OhCrap unable to speak?]]"\\
-- '''Agent Smith''', ''TheMatrix''

<<|OthernessTropes|>>

** That was actually a segment from from ''Twilight Zone: TheMovie''. Said segment was a remake of the episode "It's a Good Life," in which [[RealityWarper An]][[CreepyChild th]][[EnfanteTerrible on]][[CompleteMonster y]] did ''not'' do that to anyone. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel He did plenty of other things, though.]]

->"Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is [[OnePhoneCall a phone call]] if you are unable to speak?"\\

* In one of the most famous episodes of ''The Twilight Zone,'' a young RealityWarper does this to his sister when she snaps at him.

[[caption-width-right:320:Neo has no mouth. And he must scream.]]