MBTI: Colin Sullivan- ENFP
Found one! For all the times we’ve typed villains and had to leave out the NFs, there’s always one lurking around the corner we’ve had yet to spot. And Colin Sullivan is definitely one to sneak around corners. Then once you catch him, he’d still try to tell you that you hadn’t.
The Departed’s uncover gangster posing-as-a-cop Sullivan not only plays a unique role as a reverse rat, but as a people person that doesn’t actually trust anyone.
As an ENFP, it’s usually pretty easy to see what people are getting at for them. With their Ne, it’s easy to see the other side of any situation presented to them. This, along with their auxiliary Fi makes them generally likable to most kinds of people as they’ve got not only great people skills, but the genuine desire to be liked. Not necessarily in a pandering way, but for the same reason a decent salesman actually wants to get you the best deal available.
What does this have to do with Colin? It wouldn’t have been enough for Colin to join the police academy and become a , but to move up as he did required the opportunistic persona he has. For him, it’s not big deal to move in and out of his office high above to the nasty streets down below to deal in secret with Frank.
REAL nasty…
Why? Because his actual self is able to deal with just about every kind of person there is rather than simply “act” like somebody else. For him, being raised the way he was, it’s all the same.
It’s also a major factor when it comes to getting on with Dr. Madden. Regardless of all the violence and lives he’s screwing up, he’s still able to have dinner and successfully charm his way into a relationship, which makes Billy’s situation that much more degrading being that he’s actually trying to do some good, which requires him to wade through the crap.
Though Billy’s life consists of always pretending to be worse a person than he is, Colin’s life has him actually living the part of a cop…while keeping his true superior informed all along the way. The ENFP’s ability to intuitively understand those around them and how to talk to them makes it easy for him to slip through all the cracks.
ENFPs usually don’t have the desire to hurt people. Heck, any normal human shouldn’t want to hurt people. And Colin doesn’t show any desire for this either, he’s just living his life, doing as he was meant to as far as Costello wanted. In fact, having lived his lie for so long, by the time Billy catches up with him and everything is out in the open, he still continues to attempt to conceal his real intentions.
The Talented Mr. Sullivan
Much of Colin’s personality as an ENFP comes into play in several situations that call for on-the-spot judgement. Caught between his “professional” life and his real life, he’s called to either make himself look bad to his superiors or getting big daddy Costello caught. For an ENFP with strong Fi, the choice is easy despite how he makes it look.
One thing about ENFPs that can be a good or bad thing is their faith in whatever authority they’ve placed faith in. It’s not like the way the SJs do though- where authority is found in the more conventional sources (Family, bosses, significant others). No, ENFPs happen to look up to some of the stranger places- but only if that authority has a similar set of principles to the ENFP.
Find an ENFP under the control of a micromanaging maniac or someone whose true face is shown and it’s not what they pretended to be- and the ENFP’s restless, rebellious side will come out.
Colin sees no authority in his professional life but only in Costello, the man who raised him to be his informant. Everything he does as a lying cop is justified because the guy who raised him sent him to do these things in the first place. Getting them while they’re young has never been more true in this case.
And as mentioned, when Costello is shown to be an informant for the FBI, Colin (understandably) loses all faith in his father figure and it’s at this point in the film we not only see a shift in tone, it really does seem like the movie is over. His sense of identity is lost due to Costello having always pulled the strings. Is Colin just going to be an actual cop now? We’ll never know thanks to Marky Mark, but we can’t help but think he would have had trouble adjusting to his life without there being two sides to his story anymore.
Pure hip-hop, no sell out.
ENFPs are highly adept when it comes to the juggling act that is their life. They combat general restlessness by filling every second of every day with anything that can hold their interest and this, in turn, can leave them with several areas of talent for them to employ. That is, if they can pay attention enough to follow through.
Zombies Ruin Everything 
12/02/2014 at 9:41 pm
I think he’s ESTP.
12/03/2014 at 3:43 am
Cool. Any thoughts why? I’m all eyes to read your ideas.
12/03/2014 at 3:39 pm
Sure, I always thought of him as a good example of a well written ESTP. He reminds me a lot of the ones I’ve come across in my life. Colin is a conman. He would have done great in sales. That’s why he is able to rapidly advance within the department. Not so much by knowing peoples motives, but by being a master of manipulating the system through people. Also, he is very aggressive, even when being charming & nice. He slips in insults while talking to “friends” and gets away with it. For example, “Do you own any suits at home, or do you like coming to work dressed like you’re going to invade Poland?”. His interactions with his girlfriend are good to look at. He always seems like he’s going to fly off the handle by being very frank and quick tempered. When he first meets her he jokingly states that he would “fucking stab someone in the heart with an icepick” if it gets him dinner with her. To me these point to ESTP. Basically, to me, he is just to rough around the edges. He’s a ruthless psychopath. Of course I could be wrong. I do love your site, and agree on virtually every other typing of yours. Keep up the good work.
12/04/2014 at 11:17 pm
I took his dickish banter as a result of cutting corners, being raised by what’s basically a mass murderer his entire life, and thinking this is how people act. But you say “That’s just ESTP for you.” I can see it.
But as you mentioned, he IS a psychopath so either type is going to have questionable logic behind it. Your points are valid, no doubt. Thanks for the input and for reading.