Sigma Face

About

Sigma Face, also known as Sigma Male Face, Sigma Meme Face or Sigma Girl Face, refers to a TikTok trend in which people replicate a memorable facial expression made by Patrick Bateman in the film American Psycho (also known as the Ooh Face), typically in reaction to sigma activity. The trend was originally popularized by TikToker @argenby in late 2022, with various female creators also participating in the trend around that time leading into early 2023.

Origin

Patrick Bateman's Ooh Face

On April 14th, 2000, Lions Gate films released American Psycho in the United States. A scene from the film shows the characters Patrick Bateman and Paul Allen (portrayed by Christian Bale and Jared Leto) eating dinner and drinking together. However, Allen mistakes Bateman for someone else, and goes on to objectify his girlfriend and say "That loser, Patrick Bateman." Bateman's face then contorts into the ooh face as a reaction to the insult (shown below).

Sigma Face TikTok Trend

In 2022, the rise of Patrick Bateman as a "Literally Me Syndrome" character combined with the rise of the term "Sigma Male" resulted in various content creators emulating his style and expressions in the movie. The earliest viral video to recreate the "Patrick Bateman Face" was posted by TikToker^[1] @argenby on November 22nd, 2022, gathering over 95 million plays and 9.2 million likes in nearly two months (seen below, left). On November 24th, 2022, the TikToker then posted another video^[2] featuring the face that gathered over 110 million plays and 10.9 million likes in nearly two months (seen below, right).

The backing song used by @argenby (titled as "оригинальный звук" on TikTok) in the Sigma Face videos is the phonk remix by Twisted of Oliver Tree's song "Worth Nothing." On December 16th, 2022, the YouTube^[9] channel of Twisted posted the official music video for "Worth Nothing Phonk Remix," gathering over 4.5 million views in a month (seen below). This song was then primarily used in such Sigma Face videos going forward.

Spread

Throughout late 2022, TikToker @argenby^[3] went on to post various videos using the Sigma Face, oftentimes gathering over 100 million plays on each post. On November 25th, 2022, he posted a video that gathered over 100 million plays and 14 million likes in nearly two months (seen below, left). The video depicted him tearing up in reaction to seeing a girl cry. The comments section of the video commended @argenby^[4] for being "real sigma," saying "real sigma shows respect." On November 30th, he then posted another video of him being nice to a sad girl, gathering over 116 million plays and over 10 million likes in over a month (seen below, right).

Various female content creators subsequently began to participate in the "sigma face" trend in December 2022, with TikToker^[5] @greapaxcherri creating the first viral iteration of the concept "sigma girl, omega guy" in which she is shown playing a stoic character dating an expressive man. On December 6th, 2022, @greapaxcherri posted a video titled, "Sigma ❤ Omega #sigma #sigmagirl #틱톡순삭 #파트너크리에이터," gathering over 27 million plays and 3 million likes in over a month (seen below, left). On January 4th, 2023, she posted her most viral video^[6] featuring her doing the face, gathering over 100 million plays and 8.7 million likes in nearly two weeks (seen below, right).

Another TikToker that went viral for doing the face is @sisterbryana, who posted a video^[7] on December 22nd, 2022, gathering over 10.2 million plays and 1 million likes in over a month (seen below, left). On December 29th, MrBeast then notably collaborated with @argenby in a video^[8] that gathered over 96 million plays and 11 million likes in nearly a month (seen below, right).

Related Memes

Patrick Bateman's Ooh Face

Patrick Bateman's Ooh Face, also known as Christian Bale's Ooh Face, is a reaction image macro featuring a screenshot from the 2000 satirical horror film American Psycho. Memers use the image in a manner similar to other Ooh Faces, expressing feelings of ecstasy.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References