History Main / FrozenFace

* ''Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes'' Dr. Phibes must wear a mask of his face to hide his disfigurement.

* The [[AlmightyJanitor Caretaker]] from ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', due to the [[CosmisHorrorStory general atmosphere of the game]], sports a BrokenSmile at all times. One the one occasion that he wanted to appear somber, he had to resort to covering his mouth with his hands.

* ''Manga/MousouTelepathy's'' male lead, Hayato Toda, was born with a condition that makes him unable to make strong physical emotions. The condition is hereditary, and most of his shown family members have it as well. This gives him the appearance of a cool, stoic, and disaffected character, but he's shown to be just as expressive and emotive as any other boy in his head. Unfortunately, no one but his closest friends and the telepath main character are able to recognize this, as we see his relationships with others suffered when they thought his natural stoicism was him putting up emotional walls.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Aashii constantly has a smile on her face, no matter how she really feels, which has caused more than one person to think that she isn't taking things seriously.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Queen Atomica's victims faces are unchanging, as their mental capacity and physical appearance is permanently altered to her liking they're entirely unaware and uncaring of this eerie outward sign of what's been done to them.
* Mojo, from the marvel universe, has a perpetual grin aided by wires stretched across his face and teeth much too large for his mouth. Though he cackles and giggles constantly anyway.

* [[spoiler: The Joker]] in ''Film/TheBatman''; according to WordOfGod, his face has been trapped in a smile since childhood.

* Boris Akunin's novel ''The Quest'' has such a character in the main cast. He was a WWI German soldier and had his face burned off by a flamethrower. His face is terribly scarred and unable to show emotion. He wears a mask that looks like a human face to look less hideous... but he never can show emotions on his face. on the other hand, he has several masks with different faces and can change them... so this is a mundane kind of DisabilitySuperpower.

* ''Sardonicus'', which the film adapted, revolves around a man who, after being made to exhume his father to seek out something buried with him, was so horrified by the sight of the grinning corpse that he reflexively took on an immovable rictus grin.

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Film]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Face Freeze!" is centered around this.

[[folder:Truth In Television]]

* Yin from ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack''. When she ''does'' smile, she does it by [[FingerForcedSmile pulling the corners of her mouth up with her fingers]] (see [[http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/323/d/1/yin_attempting_to_smile_by_lilith_zer0-d336dxk.jpg here]]).
** Oddly enough, she makes it [[{{Moe}} cute]]. However, the same cannot be said for the similarly expressionless cute little boy July's [[UncannyValley attempts at smiling]].

Compare FeelNoPain, often also nerve damage, and UnableToCry. Sometimes (but definitely not always) can overlap with DullSurprise. Contrast PerpetualExpression, when the face just looks like this, but there isn't a reason for it not to move.

* Yuki Nagato from ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' arguably isn't human, since [[spoiler:she's a deliberately designed interface for a {{sufficiently advanced alien}}/{{eldritch abomination}} known as the Data Integration Thought Entity/Data Overmind]]. Not having been [[spoiler:programmed with emotions, or the ability to express them]], she usually has a neutral expression and tone of voice, no matter the circumstances. In ''Film/TheDisappearanceOfHaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon speculates that this might have been [[spoiler:a deliberate decision on the part of the Data Overmind, to make Haruhi Suzumiya accept her backstory]], but that she has also [[GrownBeyondTheirProgramming grown beyond her programming]], and ''has'' emotions, even if she lacks the ability to express them.
** {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Film/TheDisappearanceOfHaruhiSuzumiya'', where she is a completely ordinary, if reserved, girl.

* In Film/OneCrazySummer , a crossing guard shares with some bullies the old wives tale that "if you make an ugly face and someone slaps you on the back, it will stick that way". Later those bullies are stretching their skin making faces to mock Little Girl's dog when sneaks up from behind and back slaps them both; sure enough, their faces are frozen in mid-stretch.

* False Face (played by Malachi Throne) in the Series/Batman1966 1960s series, although it was because he wore a [[LatexPerfection latex]], non-ExpressiveMask.

* The Botox version caused some confusion for Cal Lightman in ''LieToMe'' because it made a woman seem like she was lying when she wasn't. In her case, though she's not highly sympathetic, she's not ''un-''sympathetic either.

* Hata no Kokoro from ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' always looks completely [[EmotionlessGirl emotionless]], so she uses various masks to express the emotions she's unable to show on her face.

* Yuki Nagato from ''Anime/HaruhiSuzumiya'' arguably isn't human, since [[spoiler:she's a deliberately designed interface for a {{sufficiently advanced alien}}/{{eldritch abomination}} known as the Data Integration Thought Entity/Data Overmind]]. Not having been [[spoiler:programmed with emotions, or the ability to express them]], she usually has a neutral expression and tone of voice, no matter the circumstances. In ''Film/TheDisappearanceOfHaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon speculates that this might have been [[spoiler:a deliberate decision on the part of the Data Overmind, to make Haruhi Suzumiya accept her backstory]], but that she has also [[GrownBeyondTheirProgramming grown beyond her programming]], and ''has'' emotions, even if she lacks the ability to express them.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Face Freeze!" centered around this.

* Yuki Nagato from ''Anime/HaruhiSuzumiya'' arguably isn't human, since [[spoiler:she's a deliberately designed interface for a {{sufficiently advanced alien}}/{{eldritch abomination}} known as the Data Integration Thought Entity/Data Overmind]]. She usually has a neutral expression and tone of voice, no matter the circumstances. In ''Film/TheDisappearanceOfHaruhiSuzumiya'', Kyon speculates that this might have been [[spoiler:a deliberate decision on the part of the Data Overmind, to make Haruhi Suzumiya accept her backstory]], but that she has also [[GrownBeyondTheirProgramming grown beyond her programming]], and ''has'' emotions, even if she lacks the ability to express them.

** {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Film/TheDisappearanceOfHaruhiSuzumiya'', where she is a completely ordinary girl.

** It's advised that anyone who tries to speak to [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Koh the Face-Stealer]] maintain one of these. Unless, of course, they WANT to have their face stolen and live(?) as TheBlank.

* ''Manga/AharenSanWaHakarenai': Raidou's face is consistently in a calm expression, no matter what is going on around him or in his own head. He's not necessarily the traditional stoic, however. He never changes his expression because he seems to be physically unable to. His attempt to smile and appear friendly yields no outward change to his expression whatsoever.

** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Xenos'', when Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} is [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] by a Chaos cult, the torturer is fed up with Eisenhorn's grinning back at him in defiance and applies a nerve-severing device, declaring that Eisenhorn will never smile again, and indeed the nerve damage done is irreparable, even with the best Imperial medical technology. When a fellow Inquisitor reveals that he knows who a codename refers to, the shocked Eisenhorn is glad it will not show on his face. On the other hand, when he meets a friend again, he is distressed that his happiness does not show so easily.

* People with Schizoid Personality Disorder or some forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder can come across like this. It's usually not that their muscles are stiff, but that they simply do not know how to consciously or subconsciously express emotions physically, giving them a detached and slightly eerie appearance. Some such individuals are uncomfortable with or wish they didn't have this trait, while others genuinely don't mind or don't care.

* Downplayed with Miller, from the ''MyLittlePony'' Fanfiction of the same name, written by totallynotabrony. While he doesn't show emotion for quite some time, it's because he used to be human and doesn't know how to work pony facial muscles well enough to show emotion.