History Main / BrokenSmile

Then there are times when that perpetual and creepy smile... breaks. Maybe the cookies got burnt, a lock of her hair has fallen out of place, or her perfectly manicured family just did something dreadfully embarrassing in public. The point is, it's [[RageBreakingPoint the last straw]] and her smile, like her composure, has been [[BreakTheCutie shattered]] into so many pieces archaeologists will be puzzling it out for millennia.

Something snaps inside her head; she gets HiddenEyes, and her smile suddenly becomes frozen and forced, with teeth grinding in a rictus of a CheshireCatGrin... [[SlasherSmile or worse]]. The smile is only still there because the sheer shock has prevented any new expression from reaching her face. A deer in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler has a similar expression. She may develop a {{twitchy eye}}. Occasionally accompanied by the [[DramaticShattering sound of shattering glass]] to help punctuate the situation. If a [[DownerEnding downer]] or BittersweetEnding EndsWithASmile, it'll usually be this kind of smile.

* ''Film/{{Pearl}}'' ends with the title character delivering [[NightmareFace a very unnerving one]], which she holds on as the credits roll.

Something snaps inside her head; she gets HiddenEyes, and her smile suddenly becomes frozen and forced, with teeth grinding in a rictus of a CheshireCatGrin... [[SlasherSmile or worse]]. The smile is only still there because the sheer shock has prevented any new expression from reaching her face. A deer in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler has a similar expression. She may develop a {{twitchy eye}}. Occasionally accompanied by the [[DramaticShattering sound of shattering glass]] to help punctuate the situation.

* In ''Fanfic/AMothToAFlame'', Marcy has one of these as she desperately tries to convince Anne and Sasha that it was ''[[BecauseDestinySaysSo destiny]]'' that brought them to Amphibia, and that the three of them were ''meant'' to join King Andrias and become {{Multiversal Conqueror}}s ''together''.

* Spike sports one at the end of Chapter 12 in ''{{Fanfic/Zenith}}'' when he discovers that [[spoiler:Celestia knowingly sent Twilight to the location where the Pillar of the Sun was at]].

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[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/broken_smile_asuka.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "[[DrivenToSuicide Mama...?]]"]]

!!Examples

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Hinamori is visited by Hitsugaya and she has one when [[spoiler: she starts ranting about how Aizen might merely be manipulated by Gin.]]
* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', Lucy has a subdued yet ''utterly heartbreaking'' one [[spoiler:when she is on the moon hallucinating David. While she’s thankful to have reached the moon, her life’s goal is completely stained with the fact that her lover got killed in Arasaka Tower, [[TheLostLenore a tragedy she may never recover from]].]]

* ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'': Happens to Ranka when she [[spoiler: runs to the deck thinking that Alto loves her... and stumbles into Alto hugging Sheryl, [[NotWhatItLooksLike not knowing]] that it's because Sheryl's illness kicked in.]] "It can't be..."

** Sakura's had her fair share, namely after Sasuke betrays the village and lands Naruto in the hospital, and much later when [[spoiler: Sasuke comes back, and she's happy and can trust him]]. [[TheUnsmile Sai]] of all people calls the resulting "smile" a lie.

* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'': Leo flashes a lot of these after [[spoiler: Elliot's death]].
* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Sayaka has one right before [[spoiler:she becomes a witch.]]

** Mutsuki demonstrates they are going through major SanitySlippage by sporting a few of these, most notably in chapter 123 when [[spoiler: Kaneki refuses to go back to the CCG with Mutsuki]].
** Kaneki also sports one while crying when he's [[spoiler:telling his hallucination of his best friend Hide and his maternal figure Akira that he's lonely.]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* Gamzee in ''Fanfic/{{Brainbent}}'' has a one when he thinks he's made Sollux hate him. He's a bit of a type-a StepfordSmiler overall, depressingly enough.
* Spike sports one at the end of Chapter 12 in ''{{FanFic/Zenith}}'' when he discovers that [[spoiler:Celestia knowingly sent Twilight to the location where the Pillar of the Sun was at]].

[[folder:Film]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Best Friend|2018}}'': [[spoiler:Arthur does this at the end after a traumatic encounter with a mugger which led him to getting a new Best Friend installed on his head.]]
* Michelle Pfeiffer's character Velma Von Tussle displayed a wonderful example of this in the 2007 remake of ''Film/{{Hairspray|2007}}'', at the moment when her daughter failed to win the Miss Hairspray contest.

* At the end of ''Film/Joker2019'', as Arthur sees the angry mob he incited with his murders cheering for him, he realizes that his actions have finally given him the audience and admiration he craves as he gives them a deranged smile smeared with blood.

* Richard Hammond's expression of glee on ''Series/TopGear'' gradually morphs into one of these [[spoiler:when the Reliant Robin Space Shuttle's external fuel tank fails to separate and the assemblage plummets to earth in a gigantic fireball.]]

* Mentioned by name in the chorus of Music/Maroon5's "She Will Be Loved."
-->''I don't mind spending every day''
-->''Out on your corner in the pouring rain''
-->''Look for the girl with the broken smile''
-->''Ask her if she wants to stay a while''
-->''And she will be loved''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'', Katherine gives a small one [[spoiler: when she breaks up with Vincent]] mid-way through the game.

** Another example is [[spoiler:the Rapturous Cultists in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the titular Darkest Dungeon]], who are so twisted ([[MindRape mentally]] and [[BodyHorror physically]]) in service to [[TheOldGods their god]] that their default expression is a demented grin as their arms constantly sway upward, ever giving tribute to the dark power they serve.]]

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' has [[spoiler:Sakura Matou]]. She is not a StepfordSmiler in that she only cares about [[spoiler:preserving her YamatoNadeshiko mask for Shirou rather than her peers in general]], but through a combination of [[LoveMakesYouEvil love]] and [[BreakTheCutie severe abuse]] she eventually [[BewareTheNiceOnes snaps]], learning how to put on that dangerous smile, [[EvilMakeover among other things]].
* In the final two routes, ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' 's [[spoiler:Kohaku]] starts to show her broken smile to the protagonist, and plays the StepfordSmiler straighter than the above example.
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'''s

** In one court section of ''Videogame/ProfessorLaytonVSAceAttorney'', [[spoiler: Kira]] laughs and smiles maniacal when she starts losing it [[spoiler: knowing that Phoenix keeps getting closer and closer to exposing her murder tricks, aibiet without a concrete evidence.]] Her voice acting pins it home how broken she's become.
** And there's also young [[spoiler: Athena Cykes]], in one of the cases. [[spoiler: Imagine a child putting her dead mom's corpse in a robot-repairing machine and casually saying that she was going to fix her. That's what Simon Blackquill had to witness]].
* ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo'' [[spoiler:has Yuuko in her story with this caused by her traumatic past experiences of being continually raped by her brother figure Akira.]]

* ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl:'' Lucy, along with DissonantLaughter, [[spoiler:when she thinks [[LoveInterest Mike]] died.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Webcomic/NerfNow''; this is the expression the Trainer controlled by [[WebVideo/TwitchPlaysPokemon the masses of the internet]] wears in ''[[http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/1230 Twitch Plays Pokemon.]]''

[[JustForFun/IReadThatAs Absolutely nothing to do with]] a [[{{Dissimile}} broken simile]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':

-->-- '''Mark Chang,''' ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents''

* Michelle Pfeiffer's character Velma Von Tussle displayed a wonderful example of this in the 2007 remake of ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'', at the moment when her daughter failed to win the Miss Hairspray contest.

Something snaps inside her head; she gets HiddenEyes, and her smile suddenly becomes frozen and forced, with teeth grinding in a rictus of a CheshireCatGrin... [[SlasherSmile or worse]]. The smile is only still there because the sheer shock has prevented any new expression from reaching her face. A deer in the headlights of a sixteen wheel semi has a similar expression. She may develop a {{twitchy eye}}. Occasionally accompanied by the [[DramaticShattering sound of shattering glass]] to help punctuate the situation.

CrossPoppingVeins optional for comedic examples. Usually this is followed either by a HeroicBSOD or something to make those responsible forever BewareTheNiceOnes. Often shown by {{Yandere}}. Compare with TechnicallyASmile and TheUnSmile. Not to be confused with the StepfordSmiler, which is for a smile meant to unhappiness.

* ''Manga/BattleRoyale'':

** Yoshimi's adorable smile at finding Yoji again quickly becomes very creepy when [[spoiler: he's shot in the head]].

Something snaps inside her head; she gets HiddenEyes, and her smile suddenly becomes frozen and forced, with teeth grinding in a rictus of a CheshireCatGrin... [[SlasherSmile or worse]]. The smile is only still there because the sheer shock has prevented any new expression from reaching her face. A deer in the headlights of a sixteen wheel semi has a similar expression. She may develop a {{twitchy eye}}. Occasionally accompanied by a GlassShatteringSound to help punctuate the situation.

** The normally perky (in [[GagBoobs more ways than one]]) April May gets this along with a TwitchyEye periodically during the first game's second trial, usually when confronted with a contradiction in her testimony. [[spoiler: Her full breakdown causes her to lose the smile entirely.]]

* In the 1999 film adaption of ''Literature/{{The Cider House Rules}}'': This is Arthur's reaction when Homer asks him if he's been sleeping with his own daughter.
* At the very end of ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'', [[spoiler:Dani]] smiles at the sight of the fire temple burning down. While the image is certainly meant to be open to interpertation, the script confirms that it is a smile of "surrendering to a joy known only to the insane".

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Ryoko Asakura, if you look closely enough (in the anime, at least) during her fight with Yuki. When Yuki causes her knife to dissolve, she betrays shock and amazement, immediately followed by a leap 5 metres backward. You can see the brief look of shock again when Ryoko has got Yuki seriously injured with those weird tentacle-light thingies and Yuki announces the commencement of Ryoko going bye-bye. Of course, since this is Ryoko we're talking about, she recovers pretty quickly both times with her StepfordSmiler ways, even as she dissolves away the second time.

* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', Lucy has a subdued yet ''utterly heartbroken'' one [[spoiler:when she is on the moon hallucinating David. While she’s thankful to have reached the moon, her life’s goal is completely stained with the fact that her lover got killed in Arasaka Tower, [[TheLostLenore a tragedy she may never recover from]].]]