History Main / RageAgainstTheReflection

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rageagainsthereflection_copy_2045.jpg
[[caption-width:302:The perfect end to TheJoker's one bad day.]]

->''Destruction of one's own image is a form of suicidal ideation: die me, dichotomy.''

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Happens to the main character in ''IRIA:{{Zeiram}} The Animation'' during a shower scene.

[[folder:Comic Books]]

[[folder:Film]]

* V shatters a mirror and breaks down crying in TheMovie of ''VForVendetta''.

* In the RagsToRiches caper film ''P & B'', the main character is tipsy and laughing at his reflection in a bathroom mirror. We see him gradually sober up, put out his cigarette in the eye of his reflection, and begin to cry.
* Variations occasionally show up in adaptations of ''SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''. The 1987 Cannon Films take has the evil queen, upon learning that a prince's bride-to-be is fairer than she, toss something at her magic mirror to break it. It wildly spins and starts to fracture. As she heads off to the wedding in a huff (to discover that said bride is the revived Snow), each crack in the mirror progressively ages her, leaving her an old hag by the time she arrives. When it shatters once and for all, she does the same, crumbling to dust.

* Near the end of ''[[Film/SpiderMan Spiderman 2]]'' Harry does this by throwing a knife at a mirror after hallucinating that his father is talking to him from the mirror.
* In ''Tommy'' it is Mrs Walker who smashes the mirror - thus revealing Tommy's true self and releasing him from his self-imposed prison.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' book ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Granny punches out a mirror in the house of late fairy godmother Desiderata Hollow because [[spoiler: the face she sees in it is ''not'' hers, but that of BigBad Lady Lilith, who is scrying through the mirror in order to find Desiderata's magic wand.]]
** Extra symbolism points for [[spoiler: Lilith being [[SiblingYinYang Granny's twin sister]].]]

* In ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', after Xiahou Dun gets his {{Eyepatch of Power}}, he's said to have at least had a very frightening, "wanting to break things" expression on his face every time he got near a mirror (the translation's a little unclear, and this troper doesn't quite know how to parse the literary Chinese).

* [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent The Shadow King]] in ''TheCityOfDreamingBooks'' sees his reflection for the first time in ages:

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''DarkAngel'' episode "The Berrisford Agenda" - Alec is haunted by his past and angrily punches his reflection in the mirror. Possibly a callback to when Ben glares at the mirror in "Pollo Loco".

* A variation on this is in the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season four episode "Who Are You." Faith and Buffy have switched bodies, and Faith gets an eye-opening experience at what it's like to be Buffy and to have have friends and family who love her and trust her. This affects her so deeply that at the end of the episode where she and Buffy face off, this exchange takes place:
--->'''Buffy''' [''in Faith's body'']: You can't win this.
--->'''Faith''' [''in Buffy's body'']: Shut up! Do you think I'm afraid of you? [''starts punching Buffy, beating her own face''] You're nothing! Disgusting! Murderous bitch! You're nothing! You're disgusting!
* [[TheSarahConnorChronicles Sarah Connor]] punches and breaks a mirror at the end of "Strange Things Happen at One Two Point".

* In TheOuterLimits episode ''Caught In The Act'', Hannah is possessed by an alien and goes around seducing people, then ''eating'' them after sex. In the girl's bathroom, Hannah loses her temper after the alien tries to seduce her roommate and punches the mirror. She then picks up a shard and attempts suicide, but the alien regains control and makes her drop it and continue its mission.

* Eminem seems found of this trope. Using it in the songs 'When I'm Gone' and 'Going Through Changes.'

* The titular character of WilliamShakespeare's ''RichardII'' breaks a mirror when his reflection fails to show any maturity or hardship after his deposal. "A brittle glory shineth in this face - as brittle as the glory is this face". As such, this is one of the OldestOnesInTheBook.

* ''Film/{{Beauty and the Beast}}'': The Beast broke all the mirrors in the West Wing and slashed up a portrait of himself in human form.
* Azula of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' rages at [[spoiler:her hallucination of her mother in a mirror as she realizes that she is completely alone and unloved, thus also clearly raging against herself]].[[hottip:* : The scene is creepily similar to the scenes of Harry talking to his dead father's reflection in ''{{Film/Spider-man}} 2'', except, of course, that Harry's father was evil and Azula's mother wasn't.]]

* Disney's ''{{Tarzan}}'' has young Tarzan slap at his reflection in a pool because of his frustration with being so obviously different from the "other" gorillas.
* ''TheLionKing'' sequel had this with Kovu's reflection. Why? Unlike Simba, who saw Mufasa in his reflection, Kovu sees Scar.
* There's a scene in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' where Jasmine slaps at her reflection in a pool and says "[[RebelliousPrincess Maybe I don't want to BE a princess anymore!]]"
* After Fiona has left to marry Lord Farquaad, {{Shrek}} sees his ogre reflection in broken glass shards and splashes mud upon them. Earlier, when Fiona sees her ogre reflection in a bucket of water, she dashes it aside.

* A variation occurs for {{Coraline}} when she looks in a mirror and [[spoiler:finds her parents trapped in a frozen prison.]] She panics and starts pounding her fists against the glass to try to save them until the mirror shatters and reveals nothing but a blank wall behind it.

* In ''BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', Red Hood (TheJoker's AlternateUniverse good twin) breaks a mirror after looking at his newly warped face.
* The {{Batman}} example mentioned above is parodied in [[TheSimpsons Lisa Needs Braces]].

-->'''Surgeon''': "Now Krusty, when I remove the bandages, don't be alarmed by the total stranger staring back at you..."
-->'''Krusty''': ''(looks in mirror)'' "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!! ''(turns round revealing his face)'' I LOOK ''EXACTLY THE SAME'', YOU MORON!"
* ''TheSwanPrincess'' has Odette slapping at her reflection in the lake, in swan form, at several points in the movie.
* In one episode of SpongebobSquarepants, Patrick is [[MirrorMonologue talking to his reflection]] about going on the "Fiery Fist o' Pain" roller coaster. It calls him a coward, causing Patrick to punch it out - not the mirror, the reflection.

* ReBoot has Matrix do this twice during an AllJustADream episode. First time is when he's rebooted as Megabyte and a vidwindow reflection does a HannibalLecture, and Matrix smashes it which makes him look normal again. Second time is when another vidwindow appears and a reflection of himself does another HannibalLecture, and Matrix shoots that.

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* You just ''know'' {{Two-Face}} ''has'' to have done this at some point.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:{{Theater}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ReBoot has Matrix do this twice during an AllJustADream episode. First time is when he's rebooted as Megabyte and a vidwindow reflection does a HannibalLecture, and Matrix smashes it which makes him look normal again. Second time is when another vidwindow appears and a reflection of himself does another HannibalLecture, and Matrix shoots that.

Can occur with characters who have been [[WhatHaveIBecome transformed]] or feel like they're being forced to become something they're not. If it's the transformed variant, sometimes the reflection will [[TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf show their original form instead of their current form]]. Also sometimes used by characters who are either ugly and suffering because of it, or made a decision that they regret and are angry at themselves about it.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' book ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Granny punches out a mirror in the house of late fairy godmother Desiderata Hollow because [[spoiler: the face she sees in it is ''not'' hers, but that of BigBad Lady Lilith, who is crying through the mirror in order to find Desiderata's magic wand.]]

* Lorne does this in ''{{Angel}}'', after having his sleep surgically removed.

* Occurs in {{''SLC Punk''}}: Heroin Bob punches a mirror in a fit of pique (or to emulate the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaged iconic BlackFlag album]]). Parodied in that unlike almost every example here, the consequences of punching a mirror are explicitly played out.

* Occurs in ''SLC Punk'': Heroin Bob punches a mirror in a fit of pique (or to emulate the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaged iconic BlackFlag album]]). Parodied in that unlike almost every example here, the consequences of punching a mirror are explicitly played out.

* ''HighSchoolMusical 2'', during the song "Bet On It". OrSoIHeard.

* In the flash game "The Asylum", in which stuffed animals are given therapy, the sheep character does this when shown a mirror.

* You just ''know'' [[{{Two-Face}}]] ''has'' to have done this at some point.

* You just ''know'' [[{{Batman}} Two-Face]] ''has'' to have done this at some point.

* In a [[TearJerker gutwrenching]] scene from the film ''Vulgar'', the main character returns home after being brutally gang-raped by an [[CompleteMonster insane father]] and his sons. He not only smashes his mirror and injures his hand, but ''attempts to slash his wrists with a shard of the broken mirror.''

Can occur with characters who have been [[WhatHaveIBecome transformed]] or feel like they're being forced to become something they're not. If it's the transformed variant, sometimes the reflection will show their original form instead of their current form. Also sometimes used by characters who are either ugly and suffering because of it, or made a decision that they regret and are angry at themselves about it.

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', during the musical episode, Dawn looks at herself in a mirror and starts to sing a sad song... only to be interrupted and kidnapped after singing the first line.
** A variation on this is in the season four episode 'Who Are You'. Faith and Buffy have switched bodies, and Faith gets an eye-opening experience at what it's like to be Buffy and to have have friends and family who love her and trust her. This affects her so deeply that at the end of the episode where she and Buffy face off, this exchange takes place:

* ''{{Mulan}}'': it's her IWantSong, so of course she doesn't destroy the reflection.

* There's a scene in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' where Jasmine slaps at her reflection in a pool and says "Maybe I don't WANT to be a princess!" Looks like Disney is becoming fond of this trope.
* They are indeed! Pocahontas 2 has Pocahontas singing to her reflection in the ice as well as imagined reflections of people from her past. Later, when she runs away from the royal ball, she sees her reflection in a pool and starts splashing water on her face to wash off her make-up. She imagines she sees herself in her tribal dress with her hair loose rather than the ballgown and elaborate hair-do she really does have.

* ReBoot has Matrix do this twice during an AllJustADream episode. First time is when he's rebooted as Megabyte and a vidwindow reflection does a HannibalLecture, and Matrix smashes it which makes him look normal again. Second time is when another vidwindow appears and a reflection of himself does another HannibalLecture, and Matrix shoots that.
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* In ''FutureGPXCyberFormula'', after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Hayato and his Super Asurada 01 in the England race trials, Shinjyo punches a mirror.

--->"I saw the monster into which I had transformed myself. Not the one fabricated by Smyke, but the real monster deep inside this paper shell, for which I myself bore responsibility. I smashed the mirrors -- smashed them all in a towering rage."

* ''{{Ever17}}'': In Coco's Route, the Kid has a truly epic FreakOut in front of the locker room mirror. [[spoiler:The reflection therein looks nothing like the Kid; he's a TomatoInTheMirror]].

* Azula of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' rages at [[spoiler:her hallucination of her mother in a mirror as she realizes that she is completely alone and unloved, thus also clearly raging against herself]].[[hottip:* : The scene is creepily similar to the scenes of Harry talking to his dead father's reflection in ''{{Film/Spider-man}} 2'', except, of course, that Harry's father was evil and Azula's mother wasn't.

** Zuko, naturally, also does this in the manga ''Zuko's Story'' (released as a prequel to the LiveActionAdaptation ''Film/TheLastAirbender'') when he first peels the bandages away from his scar.

*Azula of ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'', though she's not raging at herself so much as [[spoiler:her hallucinations of her mother.]]
**Although considering that that scene comes when [[spoiler: Azula realizes that she is completely alone and unloved, she is still clearly raging against herself]].
**That scene is creepily similar to the scenes of Harry talking to [[spoiler:his dead father's reflection]] in ''{{Film/Spider-man}} 2''. Except, of course, that [[spoiler:Harry's father was evil and Azula's mother wasn't]].