History Main / ICantLookGesture

* Ami Mizuno from ''Anime/SailorMoon'' is shown to cover or at least avert her eyes when seeing something indecent. (Usagi and Mamoru kissing, a nearly naked Seiya about to lose his towel.) She often allows herself a tiny peek, however.
* Maya Ibuki, a BridgeBunny in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', often has to avert her gaze during the bloodier and gorier battles, often while fighting back the urge to vomit.

* In ''ComicBook/SupermansGirlFriendLoisLane'' #67, Lois turns her back on seeing Clark "hurtling to his doom."

* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanTheOnceAndFutureStory'': Theseus' drinking buddies look away uncomfortably as he beats a slave girl to death for resisting his attempt to rape her.

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': Deb can't bring herself to watch Nemo swim through the "Ring of Fire", and [[CoverInnocentEyesAndEars does the same to her "sister, Flo."]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': Despite everything Hopper has done to their people, Flik and Atta can't bring themselves to watch him be devoured by the bird's chicks.

* The common subversion happens in ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' when Wendy covers her eyes as Peter crosses blades with Captain Hook, only to peek between her fingers and watch anyway.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII'', Phoebus has to look away when Sarousch forces him to let him sail away with ''La Fidèle'', on penalty of Sarousch harming his son.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'', King Dymas of Syracuse averts his gaze as his son Proteus is about to be executed. Sinbad arrives just in time, but then takes Proteus' sentence. Marina and Spike avert their eyes just as the sword comes down...[[spoiler: then suddenly the sword shatters to a million pieces. And a furious Eris emerges from the sea, and [[IGaveMyWord bound by her word]], she reluctantly returns the Book.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', as Anakin is preparing to start the podrace, Jar-Jar says it's going to be nasty and that he's not watching before covering his eyes.
** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': Obi-Wan Kenobi, [[spoiler:having incapacitated his former friend and padawan Anakin]], tries to look away [[spoiler:as Anakin is burned by Mustafar's lava]].
** A variant: In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' When Leia is captured by Jabba we cut to C-3PO turning away ''and'' saying "I can't bear to watch". What exactly he can't bear to watch is unknown as the film [[DiscretionShot cuts away at this point]]. According to an old EU novel it was Leia [[ShamefulStrip being stripped naked in front of all his minions and being made to put on the slave bikini]], though whether this remains canon is unknown.
* In ''Film/{{Soldier}}'', during the opening montage one of the child soldiers turns his head away from the dog killing the boar. His head is forced back, [[ForcedToWatch making him watch.]]

* In ''Film/Serenity2005'', the [[ApocalypticLog recording]] explaining the origin of the Reavers ends with them breaking in and overpowering the speaker before she can shoot herself. As [[ScreamDiscretionShot her screams hint at her offscreen fate]], tough-guy Jayne is the first one to say "Turn it off".
* Cheryl does this in ''Film/RememberTheTitans'' when the climactic game comes DownToTheLastPlay.
* In ''Film/WalkingWithDinosaurs: The Movie'', Alex the ''Alexornis'' looks away when he sees Patchi and Juniper sneaking past the sleeping pack of ''Gorgosaurus''. He says "I can't watch!", but he peeks over his wing after that, saying, "But I will."
* ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose''. When Inquisitor Bernado Gui catches a peasant girl inside the monastery, he declares her a witch and rips open her clothing to expose her breasts, causing the monks to avert their gaze in horror or cover their eyes. One monk does both, covering an eye and closing the other, [[CovertPervert which he quickly opens again for a peek]].
* ''Film/FreeSolo'' is a documentary about the mountaineer Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan (a 3200 foot granite cliff) without ropes or assistance. When Honnold is negotiating "Boulder Problem," one of the most difficult stages, the ground level camera man turns away after leaving the camera pointing in the right direction. The camera crew are stated to all be experienced climbers, so he would know better than the audience how great Honnold's risk of falling to his death was at that point.
* During the opening stages of the the final battle in ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', [[CuteGiant Minya]] has this reaction when [[BigBad King Ghidorah]] drops [[TheLancer Anguirus]] from a tremendous height.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain: The High King'', Eilonwy cries out and turns away rather than watch [[spoiler:as the Iron Crown of Annuvin burns through Magg's skull and kills him]].

* In ''Series/AtMidnight'', Creator/GregProops covers his face in fright when the subject of a weird Deviantart account dedicated to the Scooby Doo gang comes up.
** The SequelSeries, ''Series/AfterMidnight,'' has an epic one where Taylor Tomlinson asks the panelists to do a household chore in the least effective way possible, and Rob Huebel is tasked to clean spilled ketchup off a table. Rob unrolls paper towel right off the stage, and proceeds to dab the ketchup on his fingers and ''lick them off.'' Taylor recoils away from him in utter horror, because...
--->'''Taylor:''' ''[looking ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED]'' Oh, Rob, that ketchup's been there all day! \\
'''Rob:''' ''[[BigWhat What?]]'' \\
'''Taylor:''' We ''rehearsed'' with that ketchup! Oh my god!

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', when Shepard is escaping from Vancouver during the beginning of the Reapers' invasion of Earth, they watch as a young child climbs aboard an evacuation shuttle, only to have to avert their gaze when a Reaper shoots it down.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' have been known to cover their eyes at the sight of a particularly disliked music video.

* In the WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} cartoon, "Goonland", a tied to the ground Popeye about to be crushed by a boulder, digs a hole with the pipe in his mouth and [[OstrichHeadHiding hides his head in it]] while saying, "I can't look!"

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the [[ApocalypticLog recording]] explaining the origin of the Reavers ends with them breaking in and overpowering the speaker before she can shoot herself. As [[ScreamDiscretionShot her screams hint at her offscreen fate]], tough-guy Jayne is the first one to say "Turn it off".

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': In "Redemption", Din Djarin's flashback of nearly getting killed by a Separatist droid shows young Din shutting his eyes in fear, only opening them when a Death Watch Mandalorian shoots the droid and rescues him. In Season 2, Din repeats this [[spoiler:as an adult, when someone else catches him not wearing his helmet; this demonstrates that when his armor doesn't cover him from head to toe, he feels as nervous and vulnerable in public as a frightened child would.]].

* One infamous NSPCC advert has objects that people would usually associate with children (E.G. An Action Man figure or a teddy bear wallpaper) covering their eyes at the sight of a [[AbusiveParents woman yelling at her baby for crying]] ([[OffingTheOffspring and presumably killing said baby]]), [[RapeAsDrama a man molesting a child,]] [[AbusiveParents another man yelling at his son]] and telling said son that [[IHaveNoSon he's no child of his]],[[ParentalNeglect a boy crying for his mom who's likely a neglectful parent that locked him in a closet]] and a [[RapeAsDrama man molesting a little girl and telling her not to tell anybody.]]

[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
* In ''Literature/TheBible'' when Jesus is being crucified, God the Father is so forlorn at seeing His son be put through so much suffering that He turns away until after Jesus has died. As God doesn't have a corporeal form, this is symbolized by the [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot sun being eclipsed]].
[[/folder]]

** Daffy Duck does this in "WesternAnimation/TheGreatPiggyBankRobbery" reading a ''Dick Tracy'' comic book, unable to stand the suspense over whether or not Tracy survived an attempt on his life.

-->-- '''Diddy''', ''WebVideo/UncleAl's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mUOymWLCqE Donkey Kong Country Abridged - Episode 1 - Big Dumb Day]]''

See also IgnoringBySinging. Compare DiscretionShot if the viewer doesn't see what the person is reacting to or CoverInnocentEyesAndEars if they're keeping another person from seeing. FacePalm if the motion is in response to a DontLookBack moment, where looking behind you is forbidden for a (often) potentially deadly reason.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Iroh turns away as Zuko is burned, and scarred, across his eye by his own father. Notably, Zuko's sister Azula does ''not'' look away; instead she [[EstablishingCharacterMoment beams in delight.]]

** In "Demolition Doofus", Mrs. Puffs is among the audience during demolition derby while Spongebob participates in it. When the derby is about to start, she covers her eyes and says "I can't look". However, since she talked Spongebob into it with the intention of getting him killed, she quickly changes her mind, uncovers her eyes and says "Wait... yes I can!"

-->-- '''Diddy''', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mUOymWLCqE Donkey Kong Country Abridged - Episode 1 - Big Dumb Day]]''