Line #102 Main/MirrorCrackingUgly


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
5	%%
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions69
10	%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
11	%%
12	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shrek_mirror.png]]]]
13	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/TheThreeStooges He breaks more mirrors that way.]]]]
14
15	A common comedy trope, especially in western animation, a character's ugliness is frequently conveyed by them smiling into a mirror, with their ugliness causing the mirror to crack as a response to the character's ugliness. A type of InformedFlaw sometimes, specially when it's featured in a visual medium.
16
17	Compare RageAgainstTheReflection and GlassShatteringSound.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples:
21
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Advertising]]
25	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPKofuLveSU This]] Timex commercial demonstrates a humorous exaggeration of the trope by having an old woman's gaze breaking not only her mirror, but also a man's glasses, a car window, and various other items made of glass except for the brand of watch being advertised.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
29	* In one scene of ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'', [[FaceOfAThug Saejima]] tries to practice his smiling, but the mirror cracks, making him smash it in anger.
30	* A variation occurs in ''Manga/YakitateJapan'', where "mushroom head" Kinosita causes Yukino's TV screen to crack when the camera closes up to his face.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
34	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': Season 3 episode 3 showcases Big M. being so ugly that it makes everyone who sees his face vomit. Besides that, though, one part of the episode has him look into a mirror, which breaks from his ugliness in an instant.
35	* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In ''Flying Island: The Sky Adventure'' episode 47, once Slowy is restored to normal after having been turned into a baby, the Elder Stars are sad and disgusted simply because he's not cute anymore. Slowy thinks his elderly self still has a cute side to it, and he makes a cute pose in front of a mirror he is holding. The mirror immediately cracks.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Comic Books]]
39	* Plug from ''[[ComicBook/TheBeano The Bash Street Kids]]'', though chances are his ugliness will make ''anything'' break.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
43	* Used during the musical selection "A Guy Like You" in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame\|Disney}}'' after the gargoyles slap a giant 18th Century powder wig on Quasimodo only to find it makes him so ugly he cracks the mirror.
44	* In ''WesternAnimation/MadMadMadMonsters'', a prequel to ''WesternAnimation/MadMonsterParty'', the Monster's bride at one point cracks a mirror by looking at it.
45	* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' has this happen when he smiles after brushing his teeth at the beginning of his first movie. Though considering as he prides himself on being disgusting and ugly, he probably [[InsultBackfire takes this as a compliment]].
46	* Gnorga, the queen of trolls in ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark''. During her VillainSong, she passes a series of mirrors, each one cracking to a more severe degree than the last, until she torches the last one before it can crack.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50	* Done with Creator/MikeMyers in ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'' when his [[BritishTeeth smile]] caused his rear view mirror to crack.
51	* In ''Film/TheSlipperAndTheRose'', one of Cinderella's stepsisters cracks a mirror by looking in it.
52	* Used in the ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]]'' short "Gypped in the Penthouse" -- Larry, wondering if he really is ''that'' ugly (after stopping a clock by looking at it), asks "Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who's the FairestOfThemAll?" and it promptly shatters.
53	-->'''Larry:''' I break more mirrors that way!
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Literature]]
57	* The children's book ''The Big Ugly Monster and the Little Stone Rabbit'' doesn't feature any mirrors, but the monster is so ugly that his presence cracks rocks, dries up ponds and kills plant life.
58	* The ogres of ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' pride themselves on how ugly they are. Even an average Xanthan ogre can crack a mirror by looking at it; a truly ugly ogre can curdle milk just by scowling at it.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
62	* In ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'', Uncle Fester has this effect on mirrors.
63	* Uncle Arthur in ''Series/{{Bewitched}}''. Referenced in the unfortunate [[Film/{{Bewitched}} film version]].
64	* ''Series/InLivingColor'': Ugly Wanda turns this to her advantage in the ''Film/BramStokersDracula'' spoof. Dracula has spent the skit wooing her, only to rue his success once he gets a good look at her. Desperate to leave he tells her he can't stand mirrors, and since there's one in her room, well...Ugly Wanda tells him she can take care of it. Staring into it, she recites "Mirror, mirror on the wall..." and it cracks.
65	** One of their music video parodies, "Mr. Ugly Man", a riff on Shabba Ranks' "Mr. Lover Man ", has Shabba gazing into a broken handheld mirror.
66	* ''Series/LifeGoesOn''. During an argument between siblings Becca and Corky, he snarkily accuses her of doing this.
67	* A frequently recurring gag with Herman in ''Series/TheMunsters.''
68	* ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'': In the prologue to "Only Sin Deep", the Crypt Keeper looks into a mirror and asks "Who's the fairest of them all?" The mirror promptly shatters.
69	* A frequently recurring gag in the sketch comedy series ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision''.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Pinball]]
73	* In ''Pinball/MonsterBash'', when the Bride of Frankenstein practices her singing, she causes the display to shatter. However, [[PlayingWithATrope it's unclear]] if this is due to her appearance or [[GlassShatteringSound her voice,]] as neither one is extreme enough to invoke either trope.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Radio]]
77	* In ''Radio/TheGoonShow'', Seagoon has been promoted to Lieutenant.
78	-->'''Seagoon:''' Now, let me view myself in the commissioned-ranks-only mirror.\
79	''[shattering]''\
80	'''Willium:''' Ooh, it's never done that before, mate.\
81	'''Seagoon:''' Well, I'll make damn sure it doesn't do it again. Take it out and shoot it!
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Video Games]]
85	* One of the new enemies introduced in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon2'' is the Widow, a ghoul-like zombie who holds a broken mirror. Her idle animation has her staring at it, clearly lamenting her disfigured changes.
86	* Something of an InformedAttribute in the ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}}'' series of games. One of the attributes you can get is termed, for obvious reasons, "Ugly" with the description "The Mirrors in your house didn't break. ''[[ExaggeratedTrope They committed suicide.]]'' When your blind wife saw you, she screamed and swam across the Atlantic to flee you." In ''Tropico 4'', another addition is made [[CrossesTheLineTwice "The Middle Eastern leaders like your resemblance to a Camel, and thus enjoy meeting you."]] This gives an increase in relations with the Middle East, depending on how ugly you are.
87	* In ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3]]'', Mileena's Friendship features her removing her mask and looking at her hideous face in a mirror, which then shatters (followed by [[BigBad Shao Kahn]] saying "[[SarcasmMode Pretty.]]").
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Western Animation]]
91	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily1992'':
92	** There was a gag in the episode "Itt's Over" where Uncle Fester caused a mirror to crack after looking in it while his brother Gomez was trying to cut his newly growing hair.
93	** In "Little Big Thing", Granny Frump is stubborn about getting glasses and claims that she doesn't need them because she looks better without them, a point she finds proven when a mirror she's looking in shatters after she's removed one of the pairs she's trying on.
94	* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': Ben [[RiseOfZitboy gets a breakout of giant pimples]] because Swampfire is going through puberty. Rook, under the impression that Charmcaster has cursed Ben, throws salt on him, leading Ben to criticize Rook's belief in superstitions. He then looks in the nearest mirror, which shatters, and asks for more salt.
95	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Breadwinners}}'' episode "Bad to the Duck Bone", [=SwaySway=] makes himself evil by eating a loaf of Dark Rye. When he looks in a hand mirror, it not only cracks but also [[StuffBlowingUp explodes]].
96	* This trope turns up in the ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'' episode "Beauty and the Bump" when Mr. Bumpy and friends are discussing ways they can free the antique princess doll from her glass case. Squishington mentions that he once saw Mr. Bumpy's face crack a mirror and proposes that his face can also affect glass. Bumpy figures that using his ugliness to break the glass case is worth a try and proves Squishington's claim of his ugliness breaking mirrors, but after that, his ugliness ends up breaking or melting everything around him except the princess's glass case.
97	* The ''WesternAnimation/BunsenIsABeast'' episode "Amanda Gets Schooled" has Amanda Killman break the glass of her compact mirror by looking at it.
98	* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'': While Horace Horsecollar isn't normally unpleasant to look at, his [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hate_sink.png costumed appearance]] as [[Literature/UncleTomsCabin Simon Legree]] in "WesternAnimation/MickeysMellerdrammer" gives him the looks to match [[HateSink his role's personality]] thanks to the permanent sneer on his face. This ugly appearance causes a backstage mirror to break when he snarls into it.
99	* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': In "The Hunchback of Nowhere", Eustace says to the titular hunchback, "You've got a face that could crack a ''sink!''"
100	* The ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' episode "The Ugliest Weenie" had Cow write a play about an ugly weenie that ends up becoming a production for the school's drama class, with her brother Chicken in the title role. The play's first musical number makes use of the gag of an ugly person causing a mirror to break by looking at it.
101	* Played with in a ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' short. Sidekick Penfold tries to take advantage of a photo booth. The result: 'You have broken the lens. You have broken the lens.' (Then again, Greenback's minion Stiletto tampered with the booth to steal Penfold's photos.)
102	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeputyDawgShow'' used this gag in the episode "Duped Deputy", where Muskie Muskrat, Ty Coon, and Vincent Van Gopher [[TotemPoleTrench stand on top of each other]] to disguise themselves as a criminal named Sid E. Slicker as part of a prank on Deputy Dawg. To test the effectiveness of the disguise, Muskie looks in a mirror and concludes that the disguise will work after the mirror cracks.
103	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
104	** In the episode "Beddy Bye", Cosmo, who had temporarily become horribly disfigured from SleepDeprivation, not only cracks Timmy's mirror, he also cracks the Great Wall of China and causes a herd of antelopes far away to stop grazing near the end of the episode when his ugliness reaches its zenith.
105	** In the episode "Bad Heir Day", Mr. Crocker cracks his mirror when he's contemplating how to get an heir.
106	--->'''Crocker:''' Well, I guess marriage is out of the question.
107	** "Crocker Shocker" has Crocker look in a hand mirror and make it crack when he states that he lacks charisma.
108	** "Jerk of All Trades" has yet another example involving Mr. Crocker where he makes a mirror crack after developing a paunch at the gym.
109	* A CutawayGag in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Save the Clam" depicts a very masculine-looking Creator/KathleenTurner as being this and apologizing to the destroyed mirror frame.
110	-->'''Turner:''' Sorry. Turns out you were right about me.
111	* The ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' episode "Funny Face" has Kyle look in a hand mirror held by his Scrivener Elf. The glass ends up cracking, which upsets Kyle but amuses the Scrivener Elf.
112	* The ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'' episode "The Princess and the Troll" had a handsome prince turned into a troll by the episode's villain to prevent him from marrying his true love Princess Gwendolyn. At one point, the transformed prince looks into a hand mirror and causes it to shatter because of his ugliness.
113	* Wade Duck in "The Ugly Duckling" ComicStrip/USAcres short on ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. Orson is telling Booker and Sheldon, two baby chicks, his version of "The Ugly Duckling." When confronting the Wicked Witch of the Wool and she asks "How Ugly Are You?" he answers, "I'm so ugly I need to sneak up on my mirror to shave!" (To prevent the mirror breaking as he could also stop ''a sundial'' with his face.)
114	* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' used the gag in the episode "The Great Trade-Off", where one scene has Nermal mock Bruno for not being as cute as he is, a point proven when Nermal shows his compact mirror to Bruno and Bruno's reflection makes the glass crack.
115	* The ''WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh'' episode "Long Day's Gurney Into Night" had a brief scene where Duzer, a teenage gorgon, broke her mirror by looking into it.
116	* Used in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' where a temporarily human Medusa turns back into her gorgon self while the sun sets.
117	--> '''Medusa''': This is getting ugly. (She notices the mirror has cracked) Oh, who asked you? (Ad break, by next time it's seen, the mirror has formed a spiderweb-like series of cracks)
118	* Kaz in ''WesternAnimation/HiHiPuffyAmiYumi'' breaks a mirror by looking in it as a result of the girls trying to get him an unsuccessful makeover in "Stupid Cupids".
119	%%* Lucius in ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''.
120	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In ''Senorella and the Glass Hurache'', a Mexican take on the Cinderella story, one of Senorella's mean stepsisters shatters a mirror by grinning into it.
121	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madballs}}'' episode "Gross Jokes", the scene at the beginning where the Madballs are introduced shows Freakella looking at herself in the mirror and being shocked when it suddenly breaks.
122	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E18YakitySax Yakity Sax]]", Rarity tries reversing a depressed Pinkie Pie's ColorFailure with her makeup. Pinkie sneezes the makeup off, and looks even worse than before, shattering Rarity's mirror.
123	* Yukk! from ''The Plastic Man Comedy-Adventure Show'' is a dog so ugly he has to wear a house on his head. Not only does he break mirrors (and destroys them so quickly that he's never seen his own face), but he is so ugly that when he uncovers his face, the earth shakes and anything in direct line of sight of his face is destroyed, and anyone catching a glimpse of it screams, passes out, and/or runs away. [[TheFaceless The audience, of course, never sees his face.]]
124	* Used in ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' episode "Ren's Toothache". First, Ren's teeth are so bad that his smile causes the mirror to shatter. The next day, his teeth are so bad that smiling at the mirror [[InvertedTrope causes his teeth to shatter]].
125	* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': The witch in the ''Fractured Fairy Tales'' short "The Witch's Broom".
126	* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Season 6 DVD Box Set, the individual episode menues have gags with the characters' mug shots taken. The Springfiled Connection's menu has Moe smiling for the camera, with one of his teeth missing. The smile is so bad it cracks the camera lense.
127	* Hogatha's mirror cracks when she inspects herself and sees that she has dry skin in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "The Golden Smurf Award".
128	* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Something Smells". [=SpongeBob=] gets bad breath and is wondering why everyone is avoiding him. Patrick thinks it's because he's ugly, and suggests "the reflection test". [[TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack His reflection]] ''[[TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack breaks the mirror with a hammer]]'' [[TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack to get away from the smell.]]
129	* In ''WesternAnimation/SweetSea'', after retrieving the Royal Necklace, Sheeba models it in front of a mirror, which immediately cracks into pieces.
130	* The ''WesternAnimation/TakAndThePowerOfJuju2007'' episode "Hairy Zaria" has Zaria's mirror crack when she looks into it after she is made hairy by Tak's magic.
131	* Every time the Old Witch makes an appearance in ''WesternAnimation/TalesFromTheCryptkeeper'', a mirror breaks. She even broke the TV screen.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/TalesFromTheGooseLady'' used this in the episode "The Ugly Duck-Thing", where the Duck-Thing found a benefit to his ugliness by using it to save lives, such as freeing a baby who got its head stuck in a bottle by shattering the glass with his face and defusing a bomb by staring at the timer.
133	* The ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'' episode "Hot Dog" has a mirror crack after the Chief looks at his reflection.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'': Carl drains Yin and Yang's cuteness, leaving them horrifically ugly, especially when they try to make their [[PuppyDogEyes Cute Face]]. Luckily for them, the MonsterOfTheWeek happens to be made of very reflective ice...
135	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MirrorCrackingUgly