Personality Bleed: Typing Fictional Characters

Fictional characters represent a special challenge when it comes to typing. Why? Because every author or actor imprints something on each character they bring to life. I’ll call it “Personality Bleed” (kudos to my cohort, Ryan, for producing this term for me)

I know myself. I’m an ISTP. I understand dominant Ti, auxiliary Se, tertiary Ni, and inferior Fe. I’ve observed other functions. I grew up with an INFP, so I’d like to think I could mimic one relatively well, but I could never completely understand one, because I have never been one. (You’re naive if you think you can truly and completely understand another type without actually walking in their shoes. It would definitely do each and everyone of us good to try though…so try!) My point here is that any story I write would be imprinted with my personality, and every character I create would be from my Ti-Se-Ni-Fe perspective. I would create an INFP how I view the INFP personality. I would create the ENTJ how I view the ENTJ. Etc. Hopefully my understanding of other personalities would be accurate enough that my characters would seem authentic, but could someone see a hint of my personality in my writing? Probably. If they were looking close enough. (Or if I’m just a bad writer, it would be blatantly and painfully obvious. >.>) …Moving on.

Typing fictional characters seems to be very popular. Everyone wants to know the MBTI type of the popular movie characters. “I relate to so-and-so. Is he my type?” Believe me, I do get it. We want the the cool character to be us. It’s understandable. (But please please please, if you like to use the “I relate to him so he’s me” argument.. stop. Just stop. That is not evidence. If you haven’t ever done that, thumbs up to you. Keep standing strong. XD) However, while some characters are pegged relatively easily, others seem to be subjects of hot debate. For instance: Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man. Is he an ENTP or an ENTJ?

While many of you may know the problem with Iron Man, I’ll spell it out for those who don’t. Robert Downey Jr is widely believed to be an ENTP. Comic book Iron Man is widely believed to be an ENTJ. Are you starting to see the problem? An ENTP attempting to play an ENTJ made the ENTJ seem very ENTP. Weird, right? I’ve seen this happen several times with movie characters. Another quick example would be Hitman’s Bodyguard. Ryan Reynolds created the most ENTP-like ISTJ I have never seen, while Samuel Jackson played an ESFP with a very strong Te. (In case you didn’t know, Samuel Jackson is a solid Te dominant.) If you watch movies with this mindset, you could probably find other examples.

Writers have a similar problem. Obviously, good writers can create very solid, realist characters, but many writers do find subtle or not-so-subtle ways to imprint their own personality onto their work of art. I’m not saying it’s always a bad thing, so please to don’t take it that way. Let me give you some examples. I’ll start with Naruto (Shippuden and original one). The theme of that entire series is very Fi. Naruto and other characters are constantly discovering and declaring their “nindo” or “ninja way”, which is essentially a personal code each ninja lives by. The show focuses heavily on being true to yourself and your nindo. Several episodes focus on struggles characters go through trying to mimic someone they idealized and ultimately the characters learn to find their own strength and identity within the ninja world. The Fi theme of this show is very clear. The result? A highly emotional Te user called Sasuke Uchiha. Another good Anime example is Fairy Tail. That show is all about the power of love and friendship. Even the most Ti and Te-like characters derive their strength from the power of friendship and scream it during the most critical moments of every dramatic battle. The Fe is so glaringly obvious. For a non-Anime example, I have Rizzoli and Isles. (I’m sorry if you haven’t seen these shows. I hope my point gets across regardless.) Rizzoli and Isles is another clearly Fe themed show. Isles’ character type is debated heavily. Most people peg her as a Te of some kind. ISTJ or ESTJ usually. My only issue with this is while I see some Te in her, I usually see more Fe. In addition, Rizzoli was clearly meant to be an STP of some kind, but she has a very well developed Fe. Very well developed. There are also quite a few other characters in that show that demonstrate a lot of Fe. Rizzoli was probably intended to be an ISTP, but came out looking more like an ESTP (which is the best way to account for the higher Fe), while Isles was probably intended to be an ISTJ, that came out looking more like an ISFJ. (Of course, this is all probably subconscious on the author’s part). I can only assume that the author is an Fe dominate or auxiliary.

So what’s my point in that entire previous paragraph? When typing a character in a movie or story, keep an eye out for the overarching theme and weigh the evidence carefully to find a character’s true personality. I tend to think that Isles is an ISFJ because there’s just been too much Fe imprinted on her that it’s overwhelmed the little Te she has, but I respect those who call her an ISTJ, because I get it. In general though, I’ve just seen too many people get confused by the mixed evidence, and type characters completely wrong as a result. Tip: If everyone in the show is declaring the power of friendship, then that alone is not evidence for some character being an Fe user… if it is, then the entire show is exclusively Fe users, and that just doesn’t make any sense. Quit using bad evidence as the primary basis for your point. In addition, creating a big stink because other people are calling Iron Man an ENTJ while you want to call him an ENTP is just stupid. If a character is kind of a conundrum, then just make your best guess with the best evidence you have available and let it go. (Queue song that makes every adult and teenager cringe. :P) Does it really matter if everyone agrees with you?

That’s all I have for now, so if you have any other good examples of personality bleed, please share in the comments!