Main Character Syndrome

What is it? How does it affect you positively or negatively? Can it harm you? In what cases is it worth fighting it?

Main character syndrome

Almost everyone in their childhood imagined that their life was a movie, that they were being filmed from a hidden camera, or that they were on an adventure that was filled with danger. Even in the most ordinary situation, children can fantasize about a full-fledged film, but what if such a flight of fantasy continues into adulthood?

For example, you are on a bus, you are wearing headphones, the weather is cloudy outside, you look out the window, all so mysterious, imagine that you are Eminem playing in the movie "8 Mile" or if you are in some kind of music video and you are just sure that the attention of all the people around you is directed precisely at you. But no one cares about you.

Or another example, you liked a guy, but you are already dating another guy. And now you don’t know which of the two to choose, you are torn between them, asking your boyfriend for time to sort out your feelings, like the main character of your favorite drama series. But is this choice that difficult? Or are you just used to romanticizing everything?

If you often notice this in yourself, you most likely have the main character syndrome. Officially, such a term does not exist, it cannot be found in dictionaries, so the interpretation is quite wide. This article is based on two things:

• Opinion and thoughts of the author

• The opinion of psychologists, various articles, and videos

Let's try to understand this topic in more detail.

First of all, let's figure out what the main character syndrome is, we have already looked at the examples, now let's try to put it into a definition.

Urban Dictionary (an online dictionary of youth words and phrases in English-language slang) defines it as:

When you envision yourself as the main character of the movie version of your life, highlight the parts of yourself that would make you unique or likable. This syndrome focuses on the self more than any other person, much as movies or television has a story primarily based on one character. Usually comes with a side of individuality complexity, quirky style, and a self-centered point of view.

So how bad is it?

It's pretty bad when you imagine that your life is a movie. People often imitate their favorite characters, idols, and actors. Imagining that you are the main character, a person considers himself special, thinks that no one has a similar “scenario” and all problems are very individual, that no one in the world has experienced this. In short, you are the main character, and the people around you are just secondary characters.

It sounds pretty toxic. And it can be fraught for ourselves, because in this way we live in our invented world, waiting for the same plot to begin, only dreaming without doing anything at the same time. Or we start creating problems and drama for ourselves, in an attempt to be special - we forget who we are.

And according to Oxford psychologist Dr. Nelisha Wickremasinghe, the problem arises when the desire to be the «main character» is the desire to accumulate likes, followers, fans, status, and fame. These are the characteristics of our emotional drive system that, at best, motivates us to go out into the world to earn money, study, do useful work, and so on.

“If this entire brain activity is caught up in a constant desire for recognition, status, and fame, then we ignore what we have in a desperate search for what we could get.”

So as long as people dream about the movie star they could be, real life will keep passing them by.

On the other hand, it can also have a positive effect on you. Helps to cope with unpleasant situations. If a person gets fired from a job or fails an exam, imagining yourself as a movie character helps you step back and not get too involved in the experience. Also, if a person is not confident in himself, the main character syndrome can only benefit. This is stated by the British psychotherapist Alejandra Sarmiento. For example, a teenager may decide to participate in a competition that is important to him when he believes in his importance.

An interesting and positive idea was put forward by the YouTube channel author Cole Hastlings, he thinks that being the main character of your life is just consistently acting upon what you want to do, it means you are in control of your life and you feel like you are in control what will happen next of your story. Also, he gives examples of Naruto, where the main character sets a goal and goes to it throughout the anime. Despite various obstacles, he continues to go to the goal. So this is such an optimistic definition of main character syndrome.

People often imitate their favorite movie characters. They try to make their life like their favorite genre, be it comedy, drama, romance, or even science fiction. Movies and cartoons have had a great influence on us since childhood. Every guy would like the same school days as the protagonist of the movie "Fast and the Furious 3", but fortunately this will not happen, because imagine if everyone in the world's fantasies become a reality.

In conclusion, I’ll say that the main character syndrome is not so bad if you set a goal for yourself as your favorite character and go towards it, but life is not a movie, there are no second takes and no cuts, where the most boring meets, and there is no master who will say that he was chosen by the stars. I would like to advise you to enjoy every day, smoothly moving forward!