Zombies Ruin Everything

“Dammit Jim, I’m a Guardian, not an Idealist!”

Okay, so Bones never said that, but he would, should type theory make it to the Star Trek universe in the far, faraway future.

Bones’ gruffness coupled with actually caring about people (it’s his job, after all) greatly compliments Kirk’s selfishness and Spock’s need for logic without emotion.

In fact, McCoy’s role as the “heart” of the team as even inspired several tropes, one of which is actually called “The McCoy.” Aptly named, I do say. The McCoy in fiction is what was just mentioned- the humanistic side of the team. If it weren’t for him, who knows how many species would be dead because of Spock’s “long run” numbers?

And if it weren’t for him, Kirk would’ve killed himself after his introduction from going through with something without thinking about it.

McCoy’s first function is Fe, Extraverted Feeling. He displays this by his “compassion” for his fellow crew members. Keep in mind that The Thing and Superman are this type as well, so imagine their goodwill with no real idea of what’s going to happen the next day because of it; they just know what they need to do now.

When I say compassion, I mean that McCoy is all about making the right choice, along with the emphasis on calling the same person he cares about an idiot. Much like the mother that whacks her kid on the head because he could’ve killed himself doing something stupid. They show their love by popping them in the face because they hurt themselves; they berate their loved ones with names because they’re mad that someone they care about is so dumb.

So imagine that you have a job taking care of people who are constantly injuring themselves by performing retarded acts all the time and you’re running back and forth trying to clean it up. On one hand, it’s your job. You’re being paid for it and you do want the best for people. On the other hand- “Why does everyone but me want to kill themselves?”

Bones’ attitude often may appear to be one of stress. Aside from the obvious that he’s a part of a group of intergalactic explorers that are constantly on the verge of death, when ESFJs are in situations of unfamiliarity, their mood turns from one of positivity to negativity in a split second.

“Approve? No. I NEVER approve.”

This has to do with the ESFJ’s Si being “interrupted” and reminded that the rest of the world isn’t exactly how they think it to be, resulting in an embittered demeanor, believing there to be “no good people”.

An ESFJ male friend of mine is a soldier. He was a firefighter, and before that, a paramedic. He got into all jobs thinking he could make a difference. Helping people and getting paid with a steady job? Perfect for a Guardian, right? His problem entered when he realized that most people that call in are just abusing the system.

“Abuse the system? Good sir, the system hasn’t BEGUN to experience the abuse I can cause.”

As a paramedic, if the people that called weren’t hurt or in an emergency situation to begin with, they had been hurt but by entirely pointless means that after a while made him feel like he was justifying other people’s stupidity. “Who cares if I hurt myself? The ambulance people will come!”

This is a picture of Bones, but with a twist. Aside from being in space (it’s the final frontier), he really does care about the people he works with and knows that he’s working for the greater good of mankind and discovery/exploration.

From this, he can justify his job to himself, something that puts his Si at ease and allows him to press on forward, mending all of his rambunctious captain’s wounds, or at least trying to talk some sense into him before he gets himself killed.

In the J.J. Abrams Star Trek films, Karl Urban plays Bones and quite well. He’s still got the “You idiot, I’m trying to help you!” attitude that people are familiar with and that ESFJs are often known for. The majority of ESFJs I know are highly friendly and mostly upbeat but often times, their conversation starters are much like Bones’ introduction is in the 2009 Star Trek-

“Did you hear about Mrs. Watley? Remember Mrs. Watley, Jessica Watley from high school, the cafeteria lady from that one school we didn’t go to? Well, her sister-in-law just got hit by a truck the other day. She had to find out about it on her birthday too. Her husband even saw it. The officers said it knocked her head off and threw onto a playground where some kids were playing and the kids are now traumatized, maybe for life. It’s just horrible, isn’t it? Could you pass the salt?”

Where would we be without our ESFJs? No one to tell us when to go to bed, not knowing what medication does what (reading directions, yech), what kind of medicine to take, and unsure of whether or not to save our enemy hanging from a ledge that’s just wiped out an entire starfleet squadron (If you do it, you’re no better than them, btw).

The ESFJ are the mothers and mama’s boys of society. They want everyone to feel good and be taken care of, while the former isn’t as important as the latter and if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself on the business end of the ESFJ’s harsher method of caring.

This entry was posted on 08/26/2013 at 9:35 pm and is filed under MBTI Guardians, MBTI Stuff with tags esfj, guardian, leonard bones mccoy, mbti in fiction, star trek. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.