main character energy
noun
Dramatic self-confidence; obtrusive self-importance
What does main character energy mean?
Main character energy is an informal Internet expression for self-assured bearing or behavior. The phrase is used both to compliment self-confidence as well as criticize its excesses.
Examples of main character energy
Feeling entitled to main character energy in other people’s lives while you’re barely showing up as a supporting cast member in your own is wild.
—@imwrighttrustme, Threads, 1 Nov. 2024
… here are 31 birthday nail art ideas, from understated “quiet luxury” vibes to bold glitter Barbie French tips, that will give main character energy for your big day.
—Walking in a room with main character energy …I get such a rush out of walking in a room like everyone in there was waiting for me to show up …
—When you’re running in the rain and the main character energy starts to hit
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Where does main character energy come from?
A main character refers to a protagonist of a TV show, movie, book, etc. Main character energy has been used in an extended sense as a slang expression online since at least the late 2010s, referring to someone who becomes or acts like the center of attention. Energy, in informal language, broadly refers to the overall spirit or quality someone or something emanates. Main character energy spread on social media following a TikTok trend starting in May 2020. The trend involved videos featuring people (usually young women) posing as main characters “starring” in the metaphorical movies of their lives. The videos frequently featured a female character type that was quirky, introspective, carefree, and self-possessed, and they presented her comportment as a form of romanticized but authentic self-empowerment.
It is likely influenced by main character syndrome, which originated in the early 2010s as a pejorative expression used in role-playing games for a tendency of certain players to presume a leading part that dominates the action at the expense of others. It may also be influenced by big dick energy, which emerged in 2018 as a slang phrase for swaggering self-confidence.
How is main character energy used?
Main character energy is widely used online to praise an attractive or admirable air of assurance someone—or less often, something—is exhibiting or embodying. Used in this way, it is associated with self-confidence and self-actualization in one’s life. The term is also occasionally used—sometimes interchangeably with the closely related expression main character syndrome—to denounce actions and behaviors of people accused of attention-seeking, egotism, self-importance, etc., as if they treat everyone else as mere “supporting actors” to their concerns. It is sometimes abbreviated as MCE and, as is common for many Internet slang terms, often used in a playful, ironic, or otherwise humorous manner.
An analogous (and slightly earlier) expression is side character energy, typically referring to a person who is comfortable and content not being the center of attention, used in contrast to main character energy.
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