Zombies Ruin Everything

I was going to type an ISFJ, but seeing as how there are virtually no ISTPs in Dexter, I figured I type one and “come out swingin'” so to speak. And Indiana Jones is a big swing. His typing seems to fall under Rational or Artisan. This is probably due to the fact that he goes back and forth between seemingly nerdy professor to a Nazi-punching adventurer.

So What’s the verdict? ESTP? ENTP? INTP?

ISTP is the best fit, as their interests are split between the intellectual and the aesthetic. So let’s dissect this and see how he fits into this category, usually reserved for quiet tough guys with bad attitudes. He is meant to be the ‘spiritual son’ of James Bond, after all.

I will allow you to play this as you read.

ISTPs were ranked the lowest in reporting stress associated with “Balancing home and work.” So either they just didn’t report their stress like they’re also known to do…or ISTPs just don’t really have that much of a problem balancing a variety of tasks, like Indy would have to do.

Jones’ first function as an ISTP would be Introverted Thinking or Ti. He uses this in a variety of ways of course, but Ti as a dominant function would lead to his interest in the broad variety of things he invests himself in- from the historical to the occult, from facts to theories and the supernatural.

And the dames. Don’t forget the dames.

Seeing as how Ti is interested in the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of everything around us, they’re pretty suitable professions for an ISTP- teaching and archeology, since one satiates his desire to delve into the nerdier side of life, while the actual archeology, if it can be called that, sends Indy to locations all over the world, meeting new people and inadvertently getting into trouble. As we know, ISTPs are of low energy until the time calls for it, and Indy’s attitude doesn’t really fit the ESTP profile of initiating confrontation but rather having a comeback for people confronting him.

Dominant Ti in a user will also have them behaving passively and rationally for the most part. Indy’s love for what he does is for “fortune and glory” sure, but that’s really more about his place in the archeological world- he wants to be the guy to find the artifacts and place them in a museum to be respected and admired, as well as figure out anything else their is to learn about the object and the civilization that birthed it.

Te would be more likely to use the Ark or the Grail to further a career or rocket them forward, fiscally. Not because Te is greedy, but users of Te are pushing toward a goal, or at least, some form of final implementation; Ti’s reasoning will come across more along the lines of “Because.”

This is also Lucas’ answer for Indiana Jones witnessing an atomic bomb explosion.

Ti’s reasons won’t be concrete enough for Te users that think that something of such immense power, like the Ark, should sit in a museum to be studied and awed at unless they’ve been paid enough for it. That’s one of the themes of the series anyway though, isn’t it? Be careful what you wish for.

It’s easy for anyone to see why the villains in these movies are the villains- they’re working against our man, Indiana! But it’s the Ti users that really understand his desire to find a priceless artifact…and put it in a glass case for a class of fourth graders to stare at while picking their nose.

On the other hand, his archeological life almost gives Indiana a split personality in a way and certainly a “superhero-like” quality to it all. It seems unfitting for a professor to put on the hat, leather jacket, and jet set around the world fighting various villainous factions for the right to possess these sacred items- yet there he is.

Would this be INTP? While it’s not impossible for an INTP to involved in such activities, Rationals tend to do things to say they’ve done them, rather than to keep doing them the way an Artisan would.

For example, an INTP I know could have been mistaken for an ISTP in his earlier years, as many of his activities ranged from sky-diving regularly, traveling to Europe and Thailand on more than one occasion, trouble with the law on more than one occasion as well, and had a dream to be a stuntman for the majority of his life up until this point. But after a while, it was something to put under a list of achievements more than anything, as he moved on in search of other things to occupy himself. It wasn’t that these things became boring so much as it was about pushing his own boundaries and experimenting with things untested. Also a huge Indy fan growing up, but who wasn’t?

If you’re looking for an INTP in the world of Indiana Jones, just watch The Last Crusade for an INTP/ISTP team-up.

“He may be a total shcrew-up but heesh MY total shcrew-up.”

But Indy doesn’t fit the same mold as his dear old daddy. If he did, it wouldn’t be a constant thing to go out to the most dangerous places in the world every so often to look for an artifact most people have and never will care about. That’s his Se- just doing to do. It hardly seems reasonable to risk your life for an inanimate object when Jones is certainly making enough to support himself as a professor. Yet he does it anyway.

Since Se is all about the here-and-now, there’s nothing more “Se” than running to your escape from tribal natives, punching faces and destroying tanks, and most definitely getting the girl- even if just for the night. A more dominant Intuitive character is more likely to bypass any relationship, even if temporary, when on the search for an item they’ve been obsessing over for years. That’s stereotyping for sure, but c’mon- Intuitives are just nerdier, period.

It’s easier to imagine Indy as an ISTP if the temple represents the woman, and the artifact represents her dignity!

ISTPs are also known to keep their interests down to earth. While Biblical, supernatural artifacts don’t seem very grounded, it’s still the object itself that has Indy’s interest as well as the story that goes along with it.

An ISTP I know keeps much of his rants about long-winded subjects within the realm of practicality- animals, for instance; over the endlessness of space and worm-holes and such. Indy also has no intention of using any of the objects to see if they really do possess unlimited power like his enemies do. Curiosity killed the cat. And the Nazis.

This entry was posted on 09/27/2013 at 12:49 am and is filed under MBTI Artisans, MBTI Stuff with tags indiana jones, istp, mbti in fiction. 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.