Mistaken for Brooding

"This is just what I look like, alright?! I'm actually quite happy!"

— Unnamed Toad, Cat's Café

Everybody gets sad or sulky sometimes, but sometimes when a character appears to be in a bad mood to another character, they're actually perfectly content. This trope is when somebody is mistaken for being in an emotional funk by another character.

Perhaps they have an expression that lends itself to being interpreted as being unhappy (maybe they're The Stoic, a Perpetual Frowner, or have the Face of a Thug) or aren't speaking much (which other characters misinterpret as Silence of Sadness) or are behaving in a reserved way or spending a lot of time alone or have a dark aesthetic (maybe they're a Perky Goth). Perhaps their eyes are watering but it's actually Onion Tears or Tears of Joy or an object stuck in the eye or something similar. They may even invoke it by deliberately pretending to be sad, sometimes through pretending to cry. On the other hand, they might be expressing their happiness readily, but other people think that they're lying.

Quite often, the plot will involve one or more characters trying to cheer the other one up (often without talking to them about it) before learning the truth, perhaps learning An Aesop about not jumping to conclusions. Or perhaps, the reason the character has been so standoffish lately is that they've been working on something, which they reveal at a pivotal moment. Occasionally, it's revealed that they were behaving oddly because they were sick, injured, or (especially with female pets) pregnant.

Compare Mistaken for Suicidal and Bait-and-Switch Sentiment. Contrast Sand In My Eyes. Can happen as a result of Out-of-Context Eavesdropping or lead to a subversion of Cheer Up Episode (which is usually a "Shaggy Dog" Story).

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Mustang thinks back to Hughes' funeral, and remembers seeing Bradley's hands shaking in what he assumed was grief. While Mustang recounts it to Bradley, the Fuhrer corrects him and explains his hands were shaking because he was barely containing his aggravation over Hughes' daughter's cries.
• Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl: In "Tears for Fears!", Chimchar wails Tears of Joy after Ash praises him for doing his best in a practice session. Ash is confused by his reaction and seems to think he's sad, but Brock points out that Chimchar is just releasing everything he's been holding back because he wasn't allowed to display any huge emotions around Paul (his former trainer who was abusive to him).

Comic Strips

• Calvin and Hobbes: In one strip, Calvin finds his mother tearing up because she's cutting an onion. When she tells him about this, he thinks she's Mourning an Object.

Fan Works

• In this fan comic for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Timmy and Tommy give Tom Nook a card for his birthday. He starts to shed Tears of Joy, and the twins think it's because he's sad, but he tells them he's just overjoyed.
• Boldores And Boomsticks: Early on in the story, Team RWBY grapples with the fact that they are Trapped in Another World, Weiss in particular on the verge of a panic attack while Ruby remains silent. Yang tries to comfort Ruby only for her to reveal that she's actually excited that they get to be the first to explore this new world.
• Junior Officers: In "Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes", during Barnacles's rant towards Deborah, he mentions that he thinks that Shellington is still secretly hurting on the inside because of Barnacles's Innocently Insensitive remarks. Actually, Shellington has already healed from his emotional funk.
• What You Wish For: When Lori wakes up, she can't find Lincoln, so she thinks he's probably avoiding her because he's still hurt and angry from her verbally destroying him earlier. As it turns out, however, he isn't even in their house at all because Lori's gone to an alternate universe where he's Carol's brother instead.

Films — Animation

• The Tangerine Bear: Tangie, the titular character, is a Perpetual Frowner due to his mouth having been sewn on upside down, but he's still cheerful overall. Some characters mistake his permanent frown for being gloomy.

Films — Live-Action

• At the end of Mr. Popper's Penguins, Mr. Popper, his ex-wife, and their two kids see that Captain isn't playing with her relatives like the other penguins. They think she's lonely, but actually she has laid a second egg (her previous one never hatched) and is sitting on it.

Literature

• In an Angela Nicely (a spin-off of Dirty Bertie) book, Angela sees that Miss Darling's eyes are red and believes she's been crying. She tries to cheer her up by setting her up with Mr. Weakly, only to find out that the only reason Miss Darling's eyes were red was that she had hay fever (she was a bit cranky from the eye irritation, but she wasn't as miserable as Angela thought).
• Eloise: In one book, Eloise crashes a wedding. A woman in the audience is weeping Tears of Joy, so Eloise thinks she's upset. She then plays the piano and loudly sings to cheer her up, startling the whole congregation in the process.
• Frog and Toad: In "Days with Frog and Toad", Toad finds a note on Frog's front door saying he wants to be alone. Toad soon sees Frog on an island, looking out in the distance, and he thinks Frog is either moping or angry with him. When he laments having dropped the lunch he made for Frog in the lake, Frog reveals that he already is happy and that he just wanted to be alone to think about how grateful he is about life.
• The Octonauts: In the book "The Frown Fish", the Octonauts find a fish who appears to be a Perpetual Frowner, so they try to make him smile by taking him out on fun experiences such as a costume party and a concert. He still looks like he's frowning, but at the end of the book, the others find out that he's been smiling all along, he was just upside down.
• That's What Friends Are For: Goat looks out the window and sees Pig tearing up in his house. He wonders what could have happened to make him cry and gives him a cabbage pie, only for Pig to reveal that he was just cutting an onion.
• In the Warrior Cats book River of Fire, Alderheart goes to sit outside when he can't sleep. The usually grumpy Jayfeather comes up to him and, thinking that Alderheart's lovesick for Velvet and considering leaving the Clan, starts praising Alderheart and telling him how much the Clan needs him. Alderheart tries to interrupt several times, and finally at the end explains that he had no intention of leaving and that he was simply deciding how to say goodbye to her. Jayfeather awkwardly thanks him and goes back to bed.

Live-Action TV

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: To demonstrate that Holt's mood is impossible to determine, a flashback showed Rosa comment that Holt seems down and asked him if he had a rough weekend. He actually just came back from vacation with his husband and had never felt better. Inverted in the same episode when Terry thinks Holt seems chipper, but actually there was a fire in Holt's home and he was devastated. Later Terry paints a picture of Holt which was meant to look serious, Holt is impressed that Terry was able to make him look so happy.
• How I Met Your Mother: Barney tells the gang that he found out his ex-girlfriend who broke his heart has a baby. Lily starts trying to comfort him, only for him to reveal that he feels like he dodged a bullet.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Peak Performance", after losing a game, Data starts spending a lot of time in his quarters by himself. Troi and Pulaski think he's just being a Sore Loser, but in actuality, he doesn't even have emotions, being an android. The reason he was sitting in his quarters was that he believed his loss was caused by a malfunction.
• Star Trek: Voyager: Being a Vulcan (an entire species of stoics), Tuvok is often assumed to be sad when he isn't really, most often by Neelix, Tom, or Harry.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street:
  • When Telly's hamster Chuckie begins behaving less actively, he thinks Chuckie is sad, but it turns out that she is actually female and about to give birth.
  • In one skit, Ernie isn't letting Bert into their shared apartment. Bert speculates on why this is the case, at one point wondering if Ernie is sad and wanting to be alone so he can sulk. It turns out, however, that Ernie was perfectly happy, and was in fact planning a Surprise Party.

Video Games

• Fire Emblem: Awakening: Possibly with Henry in the English release. In his B support with Olivia, she assumes that he's a Stepford Smiler, but he insists that his constant smiles are genuine. In the Japanese version, however, this is averted, as he really is faking his cheerful demeanor, but the English version seems to lean more towards him being a happy person who has major Blood Lust.
• Moshi Monsters: In "Bungle in the Jungle", there's a green Hoodoo who doesn't say a word. The player character wonders if he's having Silence of Sadness and asks if he's alright, to which his kids respond that he's okay, he's just The Quiet One.

Webcomics

• One strip of Cat's Café features a toad who is actually very happy, but has a frown naturally. First a duck asks him if he's having a bad day and he says that, no, he's actually having a great day. Then, a snake asks if he's in a funk, and the toad says no. Finally, a penguin enters and the toad preemptively says, "This is just what I look like, alright?! I'm actually quite happy!", surprising the penguin.

Web Original

• In "The Fish Who Isn't Pouting; That's Just His Face", a parody of The Pout Pout Fish, everybody who sees the fish thinks he's pouting, but actually he just naturally has a gloomy expression.

Western Animation

• All Grown Up!: In "All Broke Up", when Tommy's girlfriend moves away, his friends assume that Tommy is hiding lot of emotional pain, even when he says to their faces that he feels perfectly fine. When Dil advises Tommy to just give them what they want, Tommy begins to act sad and hysterical just to get his friends to leave him alone.
• Angelina Ballerina: In one Next Steps episode, Ms. Mimi is playing sad music on the piano. Angelina believes that she is doing this because she's actually sad, but her classmate explains that she just likes to play sad music sometimes.
• Beavis and Butt-Head: In "Crying", Beavis's eyes water because of an onion in his chili dog. Butt-Head believes he is actually crying, so he proceeds to mock him for it. Even when they become elderly, Butt-Head is still heckling him over it.
• Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot: In "Down to Earth", Cheer, Share, and Funshine think Good Luck Bear is crying, so they approach him so that they can give him a Care-Bear Stare. He then clarifies that he was actually laughing about a joke he heard earlier.
• Daria episode "The Misery Chick" is all about how Lawndale High assumes this about the title character, with Daria's sardonic attitude being assumed as her "facing the void" or otherwise mentally dwelling on sad topics. She isn't pleased with the treatment.
  Daria: [to Jane] "You know how I feel, Daria. You're gloomy." "I knew I could talk to you, Daria. You're always miserable." Tragedy hits the school and everyone thinks of me. The popular guy died, and now I'm popular because I'm the misery chick. But I'm not miserable; I'm just not like them.
• Lalaloopsy: In the We're Lalaloopsy episode "Cat and Cat Are Lost", Rosy asks Jewel if her cat has been acting weird. Jewel says her cat had been hungry and moody before she disappeared with Storm E.'s cat. Rosy thinks it's because Jewel's cat was distraught about Storm E.'s cat moving away, but it's actually because she was pregnant, and when the two cats are found, they're revealed to have had kittens together.
• The Loud House:
  • In "Home of the Fave", Lynn Sr. fears that his children think he's playing favourites, and while most of them really were unhappy (albeit for a different reason), this is played straight with Lincoln (who was simply looking at Lynn Sr. to acknowledge him) and Lucy (who frowns all the time anyway).
  • In "Back Out There", Clyde, Liam, Rusty, and Zach think Lincoln is feeling down about Ronnie Anne moving because he's been frequenting her old house, so they stealthily try to cheer him up, and they even give him a vacation. He says he's not upset, but they don't believe him and make him catch the bus. Then Ronnie Anne calls them and reveals that he wasn't distraught after all, he's been going to her house often because he wanted to get a package she sent for him there.
• In The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode "Donkey For A Day", the other animals of the Hundred-Acre Woods think that Eeyore is in a funk when he sits alone out on a hill. Their attempts to cheer Eeyore up fail miserably^note along with nearly killing him, but in the end, it turns out to not be necessary since Eeyore goes to the hill to enjoy the reflection of the sunset on the clouds.
  Eeyore: But I don't come up here because I'm sad... I come up here 'cause I'm happy.
• Ruby Gloom: In "Gloomer Rumor", Ruby is trying to plan a surprise party, but Frank and Len mistakenly think she's going through the Five Stages of Grief because they think she's dying.
• Rugrats:
  • In "Family Tree", Chas sees Tommy playing on his own and believes that he's suffering from separation anxiety as the result of his parents being away. Actually, he just happens to be trying to retrieve a toy that had rolled under the hedge.
  • In "Mutt's in a Name", the Finsters' puppy is lethargic, and everyone thinks she's having an identity crisis due to not being named, but actually she has a tummy ache because she swallowed a puzzle piece.
  • In "Happy Taffy", the kids think Taffy is unhappy when they hear her playing off-key music, although she's really just struggling with songwriter's block. They spend the rest of the episode trying to find ways to cheer her up, like giving her "toys" (read: trash) and dancing for her.
• Sarah & Duck: In one episode, called "Cheer Up, Donkey", the main characters meet a donkey, who they believe is sad. After several failed attempts at cheering him up, however, it turns out that he just looks that way all the time (which, according to the book Sarah was reading, is normal for donkeys).
• Shrek 4D: Fiona is sobbing and Donkey tries to guess why. He suggests that it's because she's unhappy about marrying Shrek or not getting a puppy when she was a kid, but she clarifies that it's because the carriage she's sitting in is a giant onion.
• South Park:
  • In "The Death of Eric Cartman", one of the events that make Cartman think he's dead is the sight of some men carrying something heavy out of his house, which is actually plumbers replacing a toilet that he broke with a massive dump. He then hears what sounds like his mother sobbing as she mourns her son, but she's actually having sex with one of the plumbers.
  • In "Tonsil Trouble", Kyle hears that Cartman has HIV thanks to a mishap from a tonsillectomy, so he excuses himself to leave the room and bursts out laughing. Butters overhears this and thinks he's crying.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: In "A Pal for Gary", SpongeBob thinks his pet snail Gary is lonely while SpongeBob is at work when actually Gary is perfectly happy by himself. This is what leads to SpongeBob buying a second pet, who unfortunately turns out to be dangerous.
• Uncle Grandpa: In "Tiger Trails", Uncle Grandpa can't find Giant Realistic Flying Tiger, so he fears that she has run away because her feelings were hurt when he forgot to say good morning to her. When Tiger is found, it's revealed that she was never hurt and that she just sneaked out to explore when UG left the door open.

---