HSPs, Violence, and Guardians of the Galaxy

11 August, 201414 April, 2020Marissa

Honestly I have no idea what to write about for today’s post. Guardians of the Galaxy, which I recently watched? The book I just read about HSPs? How much I hate the head cold that kept me from attending a friend’s wedding?

Let’s go with a combo of the first two. My sister talked our whole family into going with her to see Guardians of the Galaxy yesterday. After being … less than impressed with the trailers, I found that I actually enjoyed the film for the most part. I’d thought it would be the characters or humor or plot that I didn’t enjoy, but that that wasn’t what bothered me.

It was the violence. You expect a certain level of violence in a Marvel superhero film. But at least in The Avengers they were trying to minimize casualties and none of the main characters enjoys killing. The Guardians (spoiler warning) do save an entire planet, but there’s a lot of collateral damage in a mining colony that no one seems concerned about, and Rocket Raccoon, Drax, and Groot are all seen laughing or grinning while killing people. The deaths are played for audience laughs too, like when Groot grows a tree limb through about 5 bad guys and batters them around inside a spaceships corridor to kill them and their companions. I think Peter Quinn and I were the only ones in the theater not laughing.

Sensitive to violence

If you take Elaine Aron’s self-test for High Sensitivity, one of the questions is “True or False: I make a point to avoid violent movies and TV shows.”

When I first took the test, I answered “false.” I wouldn’t watch things with what I considered excessive violence, but I would watch the occasional Criminal Minds episode and I had seen too many R-rated movies to count on one hand (but just barely, and most in a film class at college). Even so, during our yearly re-watching of The Lord of the Rings, I’d leave the room for most of the Battle of Helm’s Deep and if I was watching Henry V on my own I hit the skip button for Agincourt.

Now I think I’d answer “true,” mostly because I’m becoming more aware of how violence affects me and I’ve stopped trying to pretend that it doesn’t. I had to stop watching Criminal Minds because the nightmares got too bad (and even after I quit, they came back after reading Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue). I wish I hadn’t seen X-Men: Days of Future Past in theaters because the battle scenes were so dark and raw. I’d still see it, but I’d have enjoyed it more on a smaller screen since I’m much more interested in character development than in impressive battle sequences. And now more recently, I find myself troubled by Guardians of the Galaxy.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who flinches when a character gets stabbed, punched, kicked, shot or otherwise maimed? That there’s other people who think even superhero movies could do with fewer explosions, mayhem, and destruction?

I suppose one solution would be to give up watching moves, but I’ll still go see Avengers: Age of Ultron for the same reason I let my sister talk me into seeing Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel films are addictive. And hopefully in this one, there won’t be so much casual violence.

Fictional MBTI – Steve Rogers (ISFJ)

7 April, 20142 August, 2021Marissa

This was requested in the comments on Fictional MBTI – Loki, and since I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Friday it seemed a good time to write a post about Steve Rogers/Captain America. Incidentally, I will reference Winter Soldier in this post but will try to keep it spoiler-free. If you don’t want to know anything about the plot, though, go watch the film and then come back 🙂

In support of typing Steve as an ISFJ, I’ll be citing quotes from Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Gifts Differing* by Isabel Myers, and Was That Really Me?* by Naomi L. Quenk.

Disclaimer: links marked with an * are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will receive a commission if you click on the link and make a purchase on that website.

Introverted Sensing

Isabel Myers describes the Introverted Sensing (Si) types – both ISFJ and ISTJ — as “remarkably dependable … they base their ideas on a deep, solid accumulation of stored impressions, which gives them some almost unshakable ideas” (102). For Steve Rogers, this resulted in the attitude that earned him consideration in Dr. Abraham Erskine’s experiment — “I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t like bullies; I don’t care where they’re from” (Captain America). The same deeply rooted ideas that form his character also gave Steve the conviction to stand-up to Nick Fury when asked to compromise his values to create a “safe” world — “This isn’t freedom; it’s fear” (Winter Soldier).

In the right person, the traits of Si are perfect for military command. Si types are extremely stable, not entering “into things impulsively” and, “once in, they are very hard to distract, discourage, or stop” (Myers 102). When convinced he is in the right, Captain America is an unstoppable force, whether he is performing a one-man rescue mission in WWII or leading a team against Hydra.

Since Si is an introverted function, there are aspects of their private reactions that ISFJs usually keep to themselves. Only when they feel “off duty” and are around people they trust will they share insights into their unique way of viewing the world. These impressions “may be absurd, irreverent, touching, or hilarious, but never predictable, because their way of sensing life is intensely individual” (Myers 103). Steve tends to joke before going on missions, such as his dialog with Peggy Carter before he parachutes behind enemy lines in Captain America, and that scene from the beginning of Winter Soldier (which is also in the trailer) when he says he doesn’t anything to do on Saturday night because his barbershop quartet is dead.

Extroverted Feeling

Fictional MBTI - Steve Rogers. Captain America is an ISFJ. marissabaker.wordpress.com

Though an auxilary function, Extroverted Feeling (Fe) is the most easily visible aspect of an ISFJ. Heavily informed by dominant Si, this manifests in ISFJs as an emphasis on “loyalty, consideration, and the common welfare” (Myers 104). Myers also says that a well-balanced ISFJ will be very hard working and more practical than a typical introvert. They also “carry responsibility well,” though they do not necessarily enjoy leadership (102).

Fe is a social function, to the point that some introverts who use Fe may be mistaken for extroverts (this explains why you’ll sometimes see Steve typed as an ESFJ). It adapts to situations and strives to act in a way that is acceptable to as many people as possible. An ISTJ probably wouldn’t have agreed to become the “star-spangled man with a plan,” but ISFJ Steve was convinced that was how he could best serve his country. He stuck with that role up until it conflicted with his deeply held Si convictions. In this aspect, ISFJs resemble INFJS, in that both will try to please others for as long as possible without compromising their ideas.

Thinking

Psychologists disagree about whether or not the tertiary function should be described as “introverted” or “extroverted” (so it’s opposite of the auxiliary function), or simply listed by itself. Whichever the case, Jung says that this third function is under conscious control to some degree as it supports the auxiliary function (Quenk 33, 51). For an ISFJ, tertiary thinking helps with clarity in crisis situations, strategy and logic, and suspending feeling to evaluate other people’s actions. We can see this any time Captain America is planning something strategic, as he sorts through sensing data and comes up with a plan.

Extroverted Intuition

All dominant sensing type are uncomfortable with intuition, and highly skeptical of unverified facts. They can’t consciously access their inferior, or shadow, function of Extroverted Intuition (Ne) and are made uneasy by it. In every day life, this comes out as a general sense of worry and a skepticism about new ideas. This can be useful for detecting flaws in new proposals and warning about negative possibilities, which Steve does quite often in The Avengers. For ISFJs to become comfortable with something new and unexpected, they need time alone to process, such as Steve hiding from the world in The Avengers until he feel needed again and has had time to come to terms with his time displacement.

Anger is a typical response for ISFJs, particularly ISFJ men, when stressed. Stress can also cause ISFJs to become more outspoken, “irritable, and pessimistic” (Quenk 220). They are likely to feel a “loss of control over facts and data,” become more impulsive, and focus on worst-case scenarios (Quenk 221).

Stress triggers for inferior Ne include people whose types use intuition as a dominant function (such as Tony Stark/Iron Man), noisy and disorganized environments, unsubstantiated statements from authority figures, “not having sufficient information to do a good job,” and delays in goal achievement (Quenk 219). These last three triggers play a major role in the opening events of Winter Soldier, when Steve becomes angry that Nick Fury didn’t give him all the information about a rescue mission.

If you enjoyed this post, check out my other MCU typings:

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Fictional MBTI — Loki

21 October, 20139 August, 2017Marissa

Update: Click here for a newer post about Loki with a more complete type analysis.

Over the past couple weeks, without even looking for them, I’ve stumbled upon two blogs talking about Myers-Briggs types for fictional characters. One is a Tumbler called MBTI in Fiction. The other is a blog titled A Little Bit of Personality, with a series of posts analyzing heroic archetypes.

I’ve been intrigued by the characters each of these writers choose to type as INFJs. Neither of these writer’s are INFJs themselves (the writer from “MBTI in Fiction” is an ENTJ and the writer of “A Little Bit of Personality” is an ENTP), and it’s interesting to see who non-INFJs think are INFJs. I don’t always agree with them, but it’s interesting.

Loki

This was the first post I saw from MBTI in Fiction. My initial reaction was, “There’s no way Loki and I have the same personality type.” But I agree that he’s an introvert, and I don’t think he’s logical or grounded enough to be either an S or a T type, so that leaves us with INFJ or INFP. (Some people type him as an INTJ Mastermind, but he seems to rely on Extroverted Feeling more than Extroverted Thinking as a function).

Both INFJs and INFPs feel everything very deeply and trust their intuition. However, INFPs tend to keep their emotions to themselves, though feelings will inform all their actions. Outwardly, they appear “receptive and non-judgmental.” INFJs prefer to approach the world through Introverted Intuition (Ni), followed by Extroverted Feeling (Fe). They are the rarest type, often question their sanity, rely strongly on their intuitions about people, and tend to talk about their feelings. Dr. A.J. Drenth’s profile includes this descriptions, which I think sounds a lot like Loki (as played by Tom Hiddleston in The Avengers):

INFJs are far less serious inwardly than they may appear outwardly. Their inner world is well described as playful, imaginative, colorful, mischievous, and daring. Characterized by Perceiving rather than Judging, it is far less controlled and regulated than that of INFPs. INFJs love playing with ideas, perspectives, theories, images, symbols, and metaphors.

Another reason I’ve been won-over to typing Loki as an INFJ is because of the description of INFJ villains on A Little Bit of Personality’s page. It really does sound like Loki, and the last line hits a little too close to home for me to brush this analysis off as written by someone who just doesn’t understand INFJs.

When turned to villainy, the INFJ is *creepy*! There isn’t really any other word for it. Dark Paladins are the best of manipulators because they are incredibly intuitive about people and can apply their mild-manneredness to going under the radar as long as they need to, manipulating others who would never suspect them. Because they are so good at this and *know* it, pure-hearted INFJ’s often wonder if they are secretly evil and manipulative at heart, like one day they’ll wake up and realize they were bad all along.

Future Posts?

I was planning on covering several characters, but after I started writing Loki I decided one would be enough for a single post. Maybe I’ll write more at some other time, if anyone is interested. Are there any characters you’ve been thinking are INFJs? Would you be interested in me typing non-INFJ characters?

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