If you have spent any time on TikTok over the past few months, you’ve probably encountered something called Main Character Syndrome. This phenomenon sees young people creating content that positions themselves as the main character of a film, which is sometimes staged and, other times, a careful curation of authentic moments from their lives.

But Main Character Syndrome goes far past TikTok, far past social media altogether, as the people creating this content and many of the people watching it explain that this is how they live their life. In their minds, their life is a feature film and they are the main character.

Main Character Syndrome is coupled with another social media trend, that of romanticising your life, which encourages people to look at their life through rose tinted glasses and find positive ways to look at everything they do. It may sound narcissistic – most social media trends do, at first glance, in fairness – but teens, 20-somethings and people much older have claimed that this way of living their lives has allowed them to adopt a more optimistic outlook towards life. 

“On social media over the past few years, people have really felt encouraged to put aside limiting beliefs they may have about themselves,” says Dr Lucinda Gordon Lennox, a psychologist at the TRC group. “Being the main character in your own life can be healthy but it probably also means you’re looking for external validation, which can easily lead to insecurity,” she says of Main Character Syndrome.

A new TikTok trend that has developed off the back of Main Character Syndrome sees people identifying with supporting characters from films. This is known as the, “I’m not the Main Character I’m the…” trend. It involves people choosing unusual stereotypes from films to identify with. For example, ‘the older sibling with no friends’, ‘the super dramatic and sensitive little sister’ or, ‘the lowkey mean but supportive best friend.’  

This new take on the Main Character trend suggests that there are many people who don’t find Main Character Syndrome relatable whatsoever and, niche stereotypes aside, aren’t interested in romanticising their lives in order to fit into that role in their head. In fact, they might even consider themselves as a supporting character in their own lives.

And this doesn’t mean that they can only exist in relation to someone else or that they don’t have a sense of individuality. Think about all the iconic supporting characters from your favourite films whose lives were just as enriched as the main characters, if not more so, even if we didn’t get to see as much of them.

Dionne from Clueless is arguably more of a style icon than the film’s main character, Cher, and isn’t everyone watching The Devil Wear’s Prada for Emily rather than Andy? Your favourite Mean Girls character is probably Gretchen or Karen (or Damian or Janis) and there was definitely more than one episode of New Girl when you wished the show was about Cece’s life rather than Jess’.

All the ‘villains’ in your favourite rom coms who play supporting roles often have more complex storylines and psyches than the main characters too. Sandy’s Hopelessly Devoted has nothing on Rizzo’s There Are Worse Things I Could Do and, surely, the only reason you ever watched the classic series, Dynasty was for Joan Collins’ Alexis. 

Being a supporting character certainly seems to be a more stress-free to live too. Rosie and Tanya have all the fun in Mamma Mia while Meryl Streep’s Donna is left up a hill forced to argue via song with Pierce Brosnan’s Sam. The same is true for ‘Fat Amy’ of Pitch Perfect who is almost always carefree, unlike her friend and the protagonist of the film, Beca.

So what is it like to be a supporting character in your own life?

“It would certainly allow you to be less concerned about other people’s perceptions, which can only be a good thing,” Dr Gordon says, adding that, “being part of a community is really healthy.”

“As long as you’re comfortable in yourself, supporting other people is a really positive thing to do for everyone involved,” Dr Gordon says, of people who are uninterested in Main Character Syndrome.

To understand more about what it means to reject Main Character Syndrome, we spoke to three women who identify as supporting characters in their own lives to get their perspectives on how they think it’s benefitted them. Here’s what they said…