Zombies Ruin Everything

I need to get into some new genres. When filling out the list of manliest characters of all time (Soon to be a real article!), ISTP makes eight of them. That’s not a problem when watching the movie, but when it comes to typing a relevant character (Often times I’m being asked to type so it’s not just me coming up with this stuff), we end up with ISTP. It’s almost as though all the characters online users were originally telling me were INTJ are actually ISTP.

And Max ain’t no different in that sense. While the first film deals with the death of Max’s wife and kid at the hands of a vicious biker gang, the second and third film deals with an apocalyptic ISTP paradise wherein Max battles even more theatrically violent gangs all for gas and water. When you get down to it, what else matters? Human life? Oh, yeah, that too.

One of the interesting things about the Mad Max series, aside from the normality of assless chaps, is that it’s almost as though the first movie is a prequel to the second two. Now that deserves an obvious “DUH” because that’s ultimately what the first movie will always be to its predecessors. But more specifically, the sequels to the original Mad Max, Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, are so far out there stylistically and thematically, the original film hardly fits in at all. On a much lower budget, the story is also more personal.

The original Mad Max deals with a lone biker gang that just won’t leave innocents alone and it eventually gets to Max himself, the sequels have Max acting almost as a ghost, haunting the wasteland, as others fight and kill over power and necessities. It’s not as though his character doesn’t matter, but rather that life would have stayed the same if he hadn’t shown up and while nothing would have gotten better, people wouldn’t have noticed a difference.

They’re all crazy anyway, nobody would be missed.

But you’ll notice that Max keeps it simple throughout the entire series. Either with a simple comeback, a nod, or even his own style of revenge. Handcuffing a guy to a car that’s sure to explode, blowing these guys away with a shotgun- all great and simple; gets the job done. ISTPs have a need for efficiency few other types rival. In fact, sometimes this efficiency can sometimes just turn into a form of social laziness, among other kinds of laziness; but the ISTP may opt to leave out information others want to know if they don’t think you need to know it. Why waste their breath and time if it’s not necessary? This can really piss people off but the ISTP just sees it as conserving resources.

We’ve been over the ISTP functions maybe a million-no, two million times, yeah, two million times but in case somebody happened to find this after searching out the 2015 Mad Max MBTI where Max has retained his ISTP ways, we’ll do a quick function rundown with Max as the example and we’ll specifically focus on ISTP’s use of Introverted Intuition since those tertiary and inferior functions can be so tricky.

Though this clip sums up Max pretty well.

“He’s not even in most of it.” you might think. Exactly.

Ti- Introverted Thinking is used to break down mental data to figure out the “Why?” of the thing. When the user will be able to mix and match information they have previously learned with they are currently being presented with. Data is subjective and the only thing the user trusts is what it’s currently taking in. The higher this function, the more skeptical the user naturally, though not as a solid rule. Max himself doesn’t come off as some sort of high-browed scientist making only the most logical of decisions, but rather he’s untrustworthy of everyone around him and for good reason.

The world he lives in is dirty, violent, and treacherous. It’s fairly easy for heavy Ti users to figure out the social schematics of their environment as well, though their other functions will determine how they deal with said environment.

Se- This is what makes the biggest difference outwardly between and ISTP and their intuitive cousin, the INTP. Se wants to make the most out of the moment, even if that means soaking up their comfortable couch as just about any SP can attest to doing. Once they’re on that thing, they won’t want to get off. But once the ref blows the whistle and the game is one, they’ll be the fiercest players. Again, not as a rule, but as a guideline. And with Max, you can see his preference for ACTION! From hanging out on the couch to pushing themselves as hard as they can go, whatever interests them the most at the moment gets all the attention.

Ni- Introverted Intuition is all about systems. While INTJs and INFJs lead with this, basing their lives around it, ISTPs usually aren’t even aware of how they use it. They feel as though whatever situation they’re in, it’s just happenstance and they deal with it accordingly, based on whatever they feel best fits that moment. While this is true, much of their dealings come from their basic understanding of how things work in the first place. Placing what they know versus what they don’t know gives the ISTP an advantage in many situations they’re previously unfamiliar with.

Max is constantly being thrown into weird societies and gangs with little to no information on them. But based on his understanding of what he’s familar with (Ni), he’s able to mentally take a part his surroundings (Ti) to act however he needs to (Se). While Ti “mixes and matches” new information with existing information, it’s Ni that can do this without really having a handle on the reality. Intuition makes “guesses” while sensing deals with the literal. So while Max’s Ti can deal with what is, his Ni has already got a feel for it just by looking at it since the user has an “intuitive” sense about how the system works, whether it’s a social hierarchy or a maze of pipes. How other types use this will vary of course.

Fe- This is the weak point for the ISTP, it goes without saying. Inferior Extroverted Feeling normally coexists with the ISTP’s Ti to logically deal with say, a loved one’s problems, without the person of interest feeling like their place is being violated. ISTPs are usually pretty nonjudgmental in this way and are easy to talk to, with exceptions of course. But when stressed or feeling infrigned upon, the ISTP will force this function and it can manifest itself in the most volatile ways. Or a the very least, awkwardly. Honestly, I feel that if you think the title fits the series, this function doesn’t need to be explained for Max. He’s always mad.

Here’s to Fury Road not being the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of the series.

Also, this game looks pretty sweet.

This entry was posted on 05/14/2015 at 1:15 pm and is filed under MBTI Artisans, MBTI Stuff with tags Beyond Thunderdome, Fury Road, istp, Mad Max, Max Rockatansky, mbti in fiction, Road Warrior. 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.