ESFP: Deloris “Sister Mary Clarence” Van Cartier, “Sister Act”

ESFP, the Performer, the Motivator-Presenter

If you study mythology, psychology, or Star Wars, you know about the Hero’s Journey. Joseph Campbell originally codified it in his landmark book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and George Lucas famously used the structure nearly beat-for-beat when he wrote the original Star Wars. It’s a story structure dating back to before we even started writing our stories down, and serves as a template for just about every movie you’ve ever seen.

Deloris “Sister Mary Clarence” Van Cartier isn’t a Jedi, a wizard, or a princess trying to go to the ball, but she’s still a nearly perfect example of this journey. She starts out leading only with what she knows (her dominant function), and after many trials and adventures, finds new parts of herself and a new mission in life (her lower functions).

Dominant Function: Extraverted Sensing (Se), “Experience the Experience”

Deloris was never going to sit still and behave herself at the convent. Even as a little girl in Catholic school, she was bold and spontaneous. As an adult, she changes her name from Wilson to Van Cartier, dons a sparkly gown and wig, and struts her stuff as a lounge singer.

She’s also carrying on with the owner of the casino, Vince. When they argue, she’s almost won over by his gift of an “absolutely fabulous coat.” Until she spots his wife’s name sewn into the collar.

When she witnesses Vince killing a crony, she plays it cool just long enough to get clear of the scene, and then bolts. She knows instinctively that her best shot at survival is getting the hell out of Dodge, and she leads Vince’s henchmen on a merry chase.

Of course, the best and worst place for her to hide is a convent. Deloris puts up fierce resistance to Detective Eddie’s plan, and she cries out in horror when she first exchanges her extravagant wardrobe for a habit. She’s appalled at her sparse living conditions, continuously resists the rules of the convent, and clashes with Reverend Mother’s rule.

Deloris is able to play along with her new identity as Sister Mary Clarence, making up stories about her “calling,” improvising a prayer at dinner, and generally seeing what the other nuns do and mimicking it.

When she can’t take it anymore, though, Deloris sneaks out at night to a dive bar, getting herself and two of her new nun friends into trouble. For that, she’s given possibly the worst punishment yet—singing with the convent’s abysmal choir. By sheer force of personality, however, Deloris turns the choir around and gets the sisters singing a new tune (literally).

Once she’s allowed some freedom to run the choir, Deloris uses her position to reach out to the neighborhood around the church in concrete, useful ways. She starts by seizing the moment after a successful performance to convince the Bishop that Reverend Mother has new ideas for ministry. Through Deloris’ daring influence, the sisters are able to connect with their community, rebuild their church, and effect some positive, practical good in the world outside their convent walls.

ENTJ: Rocket, “Guardians of the Galaxy”

ENTJ, the Commander, the Field-Marshall, the Trailblazer

Adapting characters from one medium to another can sometimes result in a few changes. I haven’t read the Guardians of the Galaxy comics, but the blogger at Zombies Ruin Everything has, and he has a nice article typing the original comic-book versions of the characters. He also wrote a follow-up that types some of the supporting characters in the movie.

I’m sticking to the big five for this series, and so that brings us to a rousing end with Rocket Raccoon! (Note: the title for this post calls him only “Rocket,” since he doesn’t seem to know what a raccoon is in the movie. Like he says, ain’t no thing like him except him!)

Dominant Function: Extraverted Thinking (Te), “Organize the Experience”

Rocket knows what he wants and takes charge of situations immediately. Despite his small size, he rules the roost at the prison as soon as he enters. With Groot as his muscle, he informs all the inmates that Quill belongs to them: “You wanna get to him, you go through us! Or, more accurately, we go through you!”

Rocket judges others by their usefulness to his goals. He’s clearly irritated with Groot’s spaciness, but he keeps him around for his effectiveness as a fighter—and, one would think, because he doesn’t talk back much. When we first meet him, he’s getting a kick out of judging people’s fashion and lifestyle choices as he searches for a target. When Rocket tells Quill he needs a guy’s prosthetic leg for their escape plan, he says, “God knows I don’t need the rest of him. Look at him. He’s useless.” He also gets frustrated when Quill says stealing the battery in the prison is impossible, and yells at him to find a way to make it happen, because it’s essential to the plan.

Rocket has escaped from 22 prisons and has no doubt he can escape from this one. He plans the entire escape step by step, and then effectively carries it off on the fly when the sequence is triggered early. Throughout the movie, he’s the first to raise objections to any plan anyone else comes up with, mustering a good laugh at Quill’s “12% of a plan.” By the end of the movie, Rocket is giving orders to the Nova Corps, directing their defense of the planet when Ronan’s forces attack.

Auxiliary Function: Introverted Intuition (Ni), “Anticipate the Experience”

Rocket is always planning one step ahead of everyone else. He can see all the moving parts he needs to make his plans work—whether it’s escaping a prison or building a new gadget or weapon. He criticizes others’ plans for their short-sightedness, pointing out to Quill that asking them to help him fight Ronan is asking them to die.

ISFP: Groot, “Guardians of the Galaxy”

ISFP, the Composer, the Seeker, the Virtuoso

Like Gamora, Groot doesn’t give us a lot of insight into what’s going on inside his head. I bounced back-and-forth between ISFP and INFP until I finally settled on the former, and I could still be wrong. He’s my favorite character, so I don’t know if I wanted him to be an INFP just because I am (hi, I’m an INFP!), or if he’s my favorite character because he really is an INFP.

Kind of a chicken-and-the-egg thing. Or acorn-and-the-tree.

Anyway, I think the evidence points to him being a Sensor over an Intuitive, so let’s all be Groot for a moment, shall we?

Dominant Function: Introverted Feeling (Fi), “Evaluate the Experience”

Groot lives in his own happy, contented place. He’s very rarely bothered by any of the activity around him. He fights for his friends because they’re important to him, but most of the time, he’s doing his own thing, enjoying the world on his own terms.

Groot’s not very talkative, either. He has one phrase that he uses for every response, and only those who know him well understand what he means. It also speaks to his strong sense of individual identity that the only words he chooses to use are those that express who he is.

He can bust out the rage when it’s time to fight, but he’s also very tender towards others. He uses his powers to heal Drax after his fight with Ronan and to produce light to guide his friends through Ronan’s ship. In the end, Groot finds his friends important enough to sacrifice himself for.

Auxiliary Function: Extraverted Sensing (Se), “Experience the Experience”

Groot is quite literally a force of nature. He can be tender and fierce from one moment to the next. He’s adaptable and can change his form to suit the needs of the current situation, whether to fight his enemies or heal his friends. He goes with the moment, one day fighting Gamora and the next day fighting alongside her.

Groot enjoys small, delightful sensory experiences, whether it’s sticking his head in a fountain or giving a flower to a little girl—or being distracted by chewing on leaves growing out of his arm.

ESTJ: Agent Smith, “The Matrix”

ESTJ, the Supervisor, the Achiever, the Director

The Wachowskis call Hugo Weaving their “dark muse.” If you love him here as the droll and vicious Agent Smith, you have to watch him play not one, not two, but six despicable villains in the Wachowskis’ most recent film, Cloud Atlas.

Dominant Function: Te/Extraverted Thinking, “Organize the Experience”

Agent Smith leads the three agents who are looking for Neo (the other two being Brown and Jones), and he won’t stop until the job is done. When the cops corner Trinity at the start of the movie, Smith shows up and immediately takes charge of the situation. “Your men are already dead,” he informs the lieutenant bluntly.

Smith remains cool and in control even when interrogating an obstinate Neo. He repeatedly refers to Neo by his given name, “Thomas Anderson,” trying to force Neo into accepting the Matrix’s version of himself. He tells Neo that one of his selves has a future, and one does not. Smith is determined to shape Neo’s life according to his—and the Matrix’s—will.

Smith also seems to like to hear himself talk. He voices his thoughts and opinions in long soliloquies like the one he delivers to Morpheus during the interrogation. He believes he has humanity figured out and classified, and sees all the humans living in the Matrix as a chaotic zoo in need of order.

Auxiliary Function: Si/Introverted Sensing, “Relive the Experience”

Agent Smith exists solely to maintain the order and function of the Matrix. Anything, or anyone, that falls outside that order must be put back into place. When he makes his speech to Morpheus, he compares humans to other life forms he’s known of, slyly making the observation that he believes we act more like viruses than mammals. He also compares us to the dinosaur, a being whose time has come and gone. It’s on these comparisons that he bases his superiority complex over Morpheus and other humans.

ENTJ: Rameses, “The Prince of Egypt”

ENTJ, The Commander, The Field-Marshall, The Trailblazer

Rameses is a pretty classic ENTJ movie villain, fulfilling all the traits that the movies need out of their ENTJs—ambitious, relentless, intelligent, and lacking remorse. He’s not a terribly good person to write about for a post coming out on Christmas Eve. If it helps, you can go back and read about a more healthy and loveable ENTJ, the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. You can also re-read the first entries of this Prince of Egypt series, beginning with Moses—who happens to be Rameses’ mirror, reversing his letters (ISFP) and flipping the order of his cognitive functions.

No wonder these two clashed.

Dominant Function: Te/Extraverted Thinking, “Organize the Experience”

Rameses is in it to win. Even in a boyish, just-for-fun chariot race, he reminds his younger brother of their hierarchy: “Second born! Second best!” He blames Moses for always getting him into trouble and making him look bad.

He bristles at his father’s criticism that he’s foolish and irresponsible. Given new responsibility, Rameses takes charge of constructing a new temple and builds it bigger and better. He finds great pleasure in his accomplishments.

When Moses kills a slave master, Rameses offers to make it so that it never happened. “I am the morning and the evening star!” he recites. “If I say it, it will be done!”

Many years later, when Moses returns, Rameses has built up the kingdom of Egypt to great heights. His father’s criticism stings him even later in life, though, welling up when Rameses shouts that he will not be the weak link. He fears failure.

He’s not about to bend his will to Moses’ newfound God, either. Like his father before him, he sees the Hebrew slaves as nothing more than a means to an end. He increases their workload in response to Moses’ plea for freedom, and looks to the priests to disprove his brother’s “tricks.” It takes the battering of the Ten Plagues for him to change his mind, and even then, it’s more of an emotional decision.

Once the Hebrews have left, Rameses pulls it back together and leads his army against them.

It does not go as planned.

ISTJ: King Seti, “The Prince of Egypt”

ISTJ, The Inspector, The Sentinel, The Trustee

I like to profile as many of the characters from a movie or series as I can. Problem is, once you get past the leads, the material gets a little sketchier. I tried really hard to flesh out characters like Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, but it took a lot of speculation to fill in the evidence for all their functions.

So, moving forward, I’ll do mini-profiles for supporting characters. Nailing down the top two functions should be enough to prove the type for most cases, anyway. For King Seti, I’m going to include all his functions, just because it’s a good chance to talk about Feeling versus Thinking; but this will still be short.

Dominant Function: Si/Introverted Sensing, “Relive the Experience”

Seti’s biggest concern is his legacy. “One weak link can break the chain of a mighty dynasty!” he declares to his reckless son Rameses. He values the dignity and strength of the kings that have come before him, and he desires his sons to live up to that standard. Though Rameses will later show a great capacity for ambition, Seti’s  focus is more on maintaining the kingdom than on expanding it.

The filmmakers show us this visually by framing Seti’s profile alongside the statues of his predecessors. For Seti, those giant sculptures aren’t just there to show off Egypt’s glory, but to remember the great kings of the past whom he desires to emulate. It’s this greatness and history that Seti wished to preserve when he ordered the extermination of the Hebrew children.

Auxiliary Function: Te/Extraverted Thinking, “Organize the Experience”

When Moses learns what Seti did, Seti almost shrugs it off. He explains very matter-of-factly, “The Hebrews grew too numerous.” They were a threat to the continued existence of the kingdom of Egypt, and so Seti took what to him was a sensible action to keep them under control. The effective orchestration of such a large scale act of genocide makes Seti a chilling figure.

It’s also through his Extraverted Thinking that Seti imparts the values of the past to his sons. One track of the movie’s score is titled, “The Reprimand,” so named because it plays under the scene where Seti…well, reprimands Rameses and Moses. An entire musical piece underscores the power that Seti’s authority has when he wields it to keep his kingdom, and his sons, in line.

ESFP: Zipporah, “The Prince of Egypt”

ESFP, The Performer, The Activator, The Challenger

I made a big stink when I started this series about the characters in The Prince of Egypt actually being portrayed as brown. That applies to the way they appear on screen, but not necessarily for the actors who give them their voices. Of all the actors playing major characters in The Prince of Egypt, I can only think of two who actually have Jewish heritage–Jeff Goldblum as Aaron, and singer Ofra Haza as Moses’ biological mother Yocheved. What do you think? Does it matter in a medium like animation who the voice actors are, or is it enough that the characters are drawn as ethnically-appropriate?

Today’s character, Moses’ wife Zipporah, was voiced by Michelle Pfieffer, who’s just about as white as can be. I wouldn’t have thought of her for the role of as tough a character as Zipporah, but then at the time the movie was released, I still hadn’t seen Batman Returns. Or Dangerous Minds. I’ve fixed only one of those in the years since.

But enough about the actress! Let’s meet the character!

Dominant Function: Se/Extraverted Sensing, “Experience the Experience”

Zipporah springs into action in response to every situation she encounters. She shows no doubts or second thoughts about her actions, and completely trusts her impulses. We first meet her fighting back against her captors when she’s presented as a gift to the Princes of Egypt. Not long after, she’s tied up her guards and run off into the night.

It’s a long time before we see her again, and when we do, she leaps into action to help Moses out of the well he’s fallen into. The moment she realizes it’s him, she drops him right back into the well.

Eventually, once she sees Moses showing a true change in character, she takes the initiative to get him to dance with her. In the commentary for The Prince of Egypt, the filmmakers reveal that the traditions of the time would have made it inappropriate for an unmarried man and woman to touch each other. Zipporah gets around this by wrapping a scarf around Moses and pulling him into the dancing circle with her.

I believe the term is, “You go, girl!”?

Zipporah feels a strong connection to her environment and the world she knows with her senses. When Moses tells her of his encounter with God, she’s hesitant at first to share his excitement—an encounter with a deity who spoke out of a burning bush seems too far outside her experience. Once she understands how important Moses’ task is to him, though, she immediately decides to go with him.

In the end, after the Hebrews have crossed the Red Sea, and Moses is brooding over the loss of his brother, Zipporah prods her husband out of his reverie to show him how happy everyone is: “Look at your people, Moses. They are free!”

ISFP: Moses, “The Prince of Egypt”

ISFP, The Composer, The Seeker, The Virtuoso

There seems to be a common knowledge among MBTI/pop-culture enthusiasts that the most popular heroic types are ISTP and INFP. You have your scrappy, action-hero everyman in the ISTPs—John McClane, Han Solo, every scruffy military video game protagonist—and your starry-eyed, moral idealist in the INFPs—Luke Skywalker, Daenerys Targarean.

However, as I’ve read through my favorite MBTI blog lately, I’m beginning to think that ISFPs might be the front runner for most popular heroic type. For one thing, a lot of heroes that have been typed as INFPs are actually ISFPs, Luke Skywalker being the best example. One famous–and super inaccurate–MBTI chart has Harry Potter as an ISTP, and another throws Arya Stark in that slot as well. Well, guess what? Both ISFPs. I’ve also seen Legolas typed as an ISFP before, and though I haven’t seen an cognitive analysis yet, I think that fits pretty well.

(Dany? Well, I don’t know anymore, but I’m thinking she’s not an Intuitive-based personality.)

What I’m saying is that the character of Moses as portrayed in The Prince of Egypt seems to be in good heroic company. The ISFP type just seems super handy as a hero—driven by a non-conforming sense of morality and idealism (Fi), and backed up by physical impulsiveness and dexterity (Se). Plus, once the tertiary function kicks in (Ni), it usually means they’re on their way to Discovering Their Destiny.

Let me show you how this plays out for Moses.

Dominant Function: Fi/Introverted Feeling, “Evaluate the Experience”

Moses begins the story not having to think much about what he does or why. He’s perfectly happy being a prince and riding around recklessly with his brother, playing pranks, and shirking his responsibilities. Once he’s hit with the revelation of his true heritage, Moses retreats inward and re-evaluates everything he knows.

His first song, “All I Ever Wanted,” dramatizes Moses‘ discovery of what’s truly important to him, and what’s truly authentic about himself. At the end of it, he sits by the water where his mother found him, and confronts her with the fact that everything she’s told him about himself is a lie. He meets his father under the painting of the slaughter of the Hebrew children, and his father’s flippant attitude towards the atrocity pierces his newly awakened conscience, his inner sense of ethics and morality.

After Moses flees Egypt, he crawls through the desert slowly stripping off the jewelry and luxurious clothing from his old life. He finds a new life with the nomadic Midianites, and we find him at one point waking up early, sitting on a rock overlooking his flock of sheep, and sighing in contentment. He’s re-defined himself and found a peaceful existence that feels right and rings true.

However, God finds him and gives him a new mission—to free the Hebrews.

ISTJ: Billina, “Return to Oz”

The Inspector

She’s not warm and fuzzy like Toto, but Billina the hen plays a similar role as he did, acting as Dorothy’s tie back to her home in Kansas. She also enjoys the distinction of being able to talk (one wonders what held Toto back). And although Billina doesn’t end up returning with Dorothy, her running commentary provides a sensible outsider’s perspective on the weird and wonderful land of Oz.

Dominant Function – Introverted Sensing/Si, “What Was”

Billina’s not terribly impressed with Oz. The first glimpse she gets of it is the Deadly Desert, which would creep anyone out. After seeing the wrecked Yellow Brick Road and the petrified Emerald City, she doesn’t understand Dorothy’s enthusiasm for the place.

“Why don’t we just fly back to Kansas?” she sighs, after they escape on the flying Gump. She wants to return home, but not for the sentimental reasons that Dorothy had in the first movie. It’s just safer and more predictable there. For instance, there’s not an entire race of evil Nomes in Kansas who want to destroy her just for being a chicken.

However, by the end of the movie, Billina decides to stay in Oz. As a talking animal, she now has free agency to live her own life. And of course, no one’s going to stew her up for supper if she can’t lay an egg. It’s her best and most sensible option.

INTJ: Tik-Tok, “Return to Oz”

The Mastermind, The Strategist, The Futurist

My twin sister and I were not allowed to see Return to Oz when it debuted in 1985. Reports were it was way too scary for kids. Not that the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys didn’t inspire a few nightmares in their day, but Return to Oz tapped into some of the darker reserves of L. Frank Baum’s imagination.

Jim Henson and his crew were really a perfect match for this style of Oz. When we’d last paid a visit in the 1939 MGM version, Oz was more glitzy and glamorous. Now we saw headless witches, screaming Wheelers, grasping gnomes, a creepy mental asylum, a deadly desert, and a bad guy death scene that makes the Wicked Witch of the West’s passing look like a gentle, compassionate affair.

Needless to say, when I finally saw it, I was hooked, and I became one of those 80s kids that makes up the cult following of Return to Oz.

In the middle of all this fantastical scariness, however, stands one bright and brave figure. Calm, collected, and always thinking—at least when he’s wound up—Tik-Tok marches into the scene to save the day, joining Dorothy as her first new companion in this round of her journey. According to his Wikipedia entry, Tik-Tok is “widely considered to be one of the first robots…to appear in modern literature, though that term was coined after Baum’s death.”

So not only is Tik-Tok a great robot character, he’s also one of those rare INTJ heroes in fiction. And his wind-up mechanisms make great metaphors for the cognitive functions of the Mastermind. Let’s take a look and see what makes him tick.

Dominant Function—Introverted Intuition/Ni, “What Will Become”

When Dorothy finds Tik-Tok, the first thing she winds up is his Thinking. It’s a sensible decision, since he won’t be able to do anything with his Speaking and Action if he can’t think first. It also reflects the way all Introverts start with their dominant function—be it Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, or Feeling—before they interact with the rest of the world (hi, I’m an INFP!).

In this story, the mechanism is called Thinking, but I believe it’s best described as Intuition in this case. Tik-Tok isn’t designed so much to offer careful analysis of a situation as he is to strategize. He’s called “The Army of Oz.” And as the only member of that Army, he has to figure out what to do for himself.

Dorothy winds him up, and he immediately sizes up the situation. He takes Dorothy’s lunch pail and uses it as a weapon against the Wheelers. Later, Tik-Tok easily grasps Dorothy’s inventive plan to build a flying creature to escape Princess Mombi. When Jack Pumpkinhead asks him if he understands it, he says, “I understand it better than you.”

Near the end of the movie, Tik-Tok comes up with a clever strategy to help them beat the Gnome King. They’re tasked with entering a room full of knick-knacks and trying to guess which one is the lost Scarecrow. If they fail, they turn into an ornament themselves. One by one, Dorothy’s friends enter the room and are transformed. Tik-Tok, however, pretends to wind down so that Dorothy will have to enter the room to wind him up. As she pretends to do so, he tells her that if he guesses incorrectly, she’ll be able to see what kind of knick-knack he’s turned into, and from there figure out how to find the Scarecrow.

Not a bad plan, although the Gnome King cheats and ruins it. But still, that’s Introverted Intuition at work. Tik-Tok dismisses the rules of the Gnome King’s game, and re-works them in his favor.