1. Introduction
You can type comic book characters fairly easily using my method, because the comic book medium works the same way as a cartoon: a comic book deliberately exaggerates personality traits and caricatures them, and, what is more, it embodies those traits in a visual form. This means that a superhero or supervillain character's degree of Extraversion or Introversion can be guessed, for instance, from his costume and his base or hideout.
In addition, comic book heroes and villains possess super-human abilities and powers which help determine a character's personality type. This aspect of the comic book genre, particularly the superhero genre, can give us a short-cut to typing a character. And because the characters in a good many TV shows in the science fiction and fantasy genre (Star Trek, for example) are super-powered, they can be easily typed using the methods you would use to type a Marvel or DC character.
What about soap opera characters? Here we face an uphill battle. Because the soap opera genre demands more realism than sci-fi or fantasy, soap opera characters do not use telepathy or super-strength, nor are their personality traits revealed in a conveniently cartoonish, exaggerated visual form. But here, I think, I have developed a viable method - one which makes use of the character's appearance, but also, their dialogue and actions. This will help work out a whether a character is a Judger or Perceiver, Intuitive or Sensor, Thinker or Feeler, Introvert or Introvert.
In this essay, I will illustrate how this method works by making use of the characters in the first season (from 1987) of the most popular daytime TV soap in the world - Bold and the Beautiful. The show has enjoyed its success - it is still running over thirty years later - because of its portrayal of attractive people living a wealthy, glamorous and leisurely lifestyle in Los Angeles, but also (and here it shares some qualities with the comic book medium) because of the accessibility and simplicity of its format and the cartoonishness and colourfulness of its characters.
The first season of Bold sets up the characters, and the formula, for the remainder of the series: when you watch the first season (and it can be found on DVD and on YouTube), you will see that the show in its present incarnation has hardly moved on from 1987. Bold concerns two families: the wealthy but unhappy Forresters, who run an élite fashion house in Los Angeles, and the struggling but happy Logans, who have emigrated to Los Angeles from the Midwest. A third family - the Spencers - weave in and out of the story. They consist - in the first season - of the widowed billionaire and owner of Spencer Publications, the bitter, brooding William Spencer I, and his sheltered, virginal daughter Caroline. While Bold, like all soaps, uses an ensemble cast - if it were a superhero comic book, it would be called a team book - two characters in particular stand out. The young, arrogant and handsome Ridge Forrester plays the hero role, and the young, beautiful and maternal Brooke Logan, the heroine. As the first season progresses, Brooke becomes fascinated by the Forresters' wealth and fame, and inveigles herself in their circle - and the rest is history. Members of the two families meet and intermarry, but no-one in Bold stays faithful for long - they cheat, are found out, break up and then move on to the next affair. But all this happens at a slow pace. Because of this slowness, and the excellent story-telling, you can stop watching Bold for six months, and then, after resuming, pick up on the storyline as if you've never been away.
A few of the key characters are played by the same actor for years, but inevitably, over the passage of time, a character will be recast, and as a result, the character will change his or her personality type. For example, I type Brooke's younger sister as an ISFJ in the first season and an ISFP in the current. Generally, if a character is played by the same actor, it will stay consistent. Brooke Logan and Eric Forrester have been played by the same actors for 32 years, and have retained their personality type from the first season.
2. Judging or Perceiving: Town Hall Man versus Theseus
Jung makes a distinction between the Judging (or 'rational') type and the Perceiving (or 'irrational'). More or less, the Rational type follows a well thought-out, highly structured world view (even if he is not inclined to self-reflection), while the Irrational type does not. The dichotomy is signified by the letters J (Judging) or P (Perceiving). (Confusingly, MBTI goes by a different definition of Perceiving and Judging, and categorises the Introverted Judging types in Jung as Perceivers and the Introverted Perceiving as Judgers. In this section, I will be following Jung's definition, not MBTI's).
How do we tell a Judging from a Perceiving TV character? I compare a Judging character to the man in the Norman Rockwell painting who comes to a town hall. He arrives armed with an agenda and wants events to go in a certain way and expects them to go a certain way. Mentally, he works with a highly detailed and elaborate system of protocols which details how events will unfold and how he should react to them. In other words, he relies heavily upon his Judging function, which, as we shall see later, is either a Thinking or Feeling one.
In contrast, the Perceiving character follows his Perceiving function (Sensing or Intuiting) through the maze of life, like Theseus groping his way around the Minotaur’s maze using the thread given to him by Ariadne. He relies upon, and trusts, his Perceiving function.
The questions to be asked when typing a character are: does he follow a system of protocols which he rigidly adheres and rarely, if ever, deviates from? Does he take the position that most things in life must be done in a certain way, and there is no other way? Or does he follow his Intuiting or Sensing function wherever it may lead? Does the character expect events to unfold in a certain sequence, to which he has a pre-programmed list of responses, or does he take life as it comes?
In the first season of Bold, Extraverted Judging characters, such as Brooke Logan and Ridge Forrester, impose their Judging functions on others in an immediately noticeable manner; with the Introverts, such as Conway Weston and Margo Lynley, the imposition is far more subtle.
The private investigator Conway Weston, for instance, doesn’t talk much, but we see his Judging quality at work when, after discovering (and recording) Ridge’s infidelity, he doggedly persists in his attempt to bring the news to his boss, William Spencer I, who has hired Conway to dig up dirt on Ridge. This is even after Spencer begins to avoid Weston and makes it clear to him that he’s changed his mind on Ridge: having become convinced (erroneously) of Ridge's good character, Spencer wants to renege on his contract with Weston and no longer wants to hear bad things about Ridge. In Weston’s world view (and all Judgers have a world view), a contract is a contract, and you deliver what’s originally been paid for – and that is that. No exceptions exist to the rule. Hence Weston's doggedness and persistence.
In Margo, we see a similar obstinancy, but in her case, it consists in holding to clear moral judgments once they are made. After she decides that Ridge is a morally bad person – who should be treated as such – she continues in upholding that evaluation, even after she comes under pressure from others (such as William Spencer I) who try and persuade her that she is mistaken. She subscribes to a world view in which one simply doesn’t do what Ridge does, and that world view comes first. Judging pertains to an order of priority: the Judging function and its judgements come before the Perceiving function and its perceptions.
One should not think, from the above, that unlike the Judging characters, the Perceiving characters do not try and assert themselves and control others: two of the Perceiving characters in Bold, William Spencer I and Rocco Carner, are continually trying to do both. The difference between their types and the Judging type is that the Perceiving characters do not act according to an overarching world view. In this, William Spencer I presents a contrast with his son, Bill Spencer II (who is to first appear on the show twenty years later). Bill Spencer II, a Judger and an Extravert, expounds his worked-out, highly elaborate world view at tedious length to anyone will listen.
To sum up: in order to type a character as a Judger or Perceiver, we need to ask, how do they want to live their life? Do they assiduously follow a 'prime directive' (to paraphrase Star Trek) or do they
i) pursue enthusiastically whatever possibilities and opportunities that arise (Extraverted Intuition);
ii) stay in their comfort zone (Introverted Sensing);
iii) defend territory, acquire wealth and influence, become upwardly mobile, and pursue the good things in life (Extraverted Sensing);
iv) engage in morbid brooding and introspection on the past and how it leads to the future (Introverted Intuition).
3. Thinking or Feeling: The Mechanic versus the Empath
Thinking and Feeling characters differ in their approach to reality. Thinkers tackle life events like a mechanic or a surgeon – they try and operate on it, and stand detached from it. They look at life from the outside and try manipulate it and bring about a certain result. Whereas Thinkers stand on the outside of reality, Feelers try and get inside: they want to know what it looks like from that perspective and put themselves in the shoes of others and experience their emotions, feelings, dreams, fears. (This in turn leads to a preoccupation with customs, mores, manners, ethics, morals). They want to live all this and experience meanings and values at first hand, whereas a Thinker tries to pursue an objective and asks himself what is the most quickest, efficient and rational means of attaining that objective.
None of this means that a Thinking character is unable to feel, nor does it mean that a Feeler character is unable to think. Determining whether a character is a Thinker or Feeler involves working out a character's priorities - which Judging function, Feeling or Thinking, do they go to first and most habitually.
We see the Thinker versus Feeler dichotomy at work in one of the earliest episodes, in which Storm Logan, Brooke's brother, and Dave Reed, her fiancé (and police detective) argue. Storm’s sister, Brooke, has nearly been kidnapped and raped (!) in the first episode by a pair of roving thugs who drive a van. Storm, a Feeler, explodes in rage against Dave, a Thinker, because Dave talks about the incident in a cool, collected manner. In a rather clinical way, Dave puts forward the idea of catching the two criminals by setting them up in a sting – and using Brooke, his own girlfriend, as bait. Storm is offended by Reed’s apparent coldness and feels (and displays) anger for what happened to his sister; Reed assures him that ‘I want to catch those two scum as much you do’, but to him, being rational and being methodical takes priority.
At their worst, Thinkers give the impression of being cold and manipulative, Feelers, emotional and reactive.
4. Sensing or Intuition: Appearance versus Essence
How does a character receive information, and what does he do with it? A Sensor character restricts himself to things as they are appear, and is quite content with the surface of reality; an Intuitive wants to penetrate that surface and view the essence of things. The question becomes one of either living in reality, the material world and the present or wanting to go beyond them.
A textbook example of this dichotomy turns up in the very first episode. After the Forrester fashion show, Ridge tells his father Eric that he is dissatisfied with Eric’s designs for the collection: they lack sex, sensuality, they have no ‘sizzle’. Eric responds by delivering a classic monologue – on the true meaning of fashion and what clothes ultimately mean to women. He speaks in terms of absolutes and tries to explain the essence, or Platonic Ideal, of women’s fashion to Ridge – and fails. Sensor and Intuitive here do not see eye to eye, and never shall the twain meet.
Generally we can tell if a character is a Sensor or Intuitive from the dialogue. Conway Weston, in his first appearance, speaks in simple, concise and declarative sentences which state what is the case. Grandma Logan, in her first appearance – in a conversation with her grandson Storm – immediately touches upon the subject of the past (the disappearance of her son Stephen, Storm’s father, from his family’s lives) and how this relates to the future (could Storm end up being true to type and being like his father?). For the Intuitive, the world of the present, of surfaces, is disregarded: the Intuitive is preoccupied with what could be or what has always been and will be.
The Intuitive, from the outset, is always trying to burrow beneath the surface of reality. Usually we see this at work in the establishing scenes for a character. In her first appearance, Stephanie, in her exchange with Eric, skips over the small talk and tries to work out what is truly going on, beyond the surface and behind the scenes, with their marriage, which she fears is in decline. And even Donna Logan’s first lines – sparse as they are – deal with what would be and could be.
Compare this to one of Storm's first lines - a command to his younger sister, Katie: 'How about being a good kid sister, go get your brother a sandwich'. The Sensor character lives in the material world, and that, to him, is all there is. The Introverted Sensor in particular (and Storm is one) likes things as they are and likes his material comforts.
Here some rules of thumb for telling what type of Intuitive or Sensor a character is in a soap opera:
i) The dialogue of the Extraverted Sensor, and the general attitude, is marked by a certain aggressiveness and territoriality. This can manifest itself in terseness or snarkiness, or a desire to impose one's will on others - pushing things to see how far they can go - for its own sake, which in turn leads to cajoling or bullying. In terms of life choices, the Extraverted Sensor wants to acquire material resources, and appreciates the finer things in life - an appreciation which can lend itself to aestheticism and sensuality.
ii) The Introverted Intuitive likes to brood a lot on what the future will bring, and usually does this (in best soap opera tradition) staring out of a skyscraper window or into a fireplace, often while nursing a stiff drink from a nearby whiskey trolley. When stressed - and the soap opera character is often stressed - the Introverted Intuitive is filled with suspicion and paranoia, and anxiety regarding the future. In terms of dialogue, the Introverted Intuitive speaks in terms of absolutes, essences, what endures over time. He types people, makes predictions of their future behaviour on the basis of their past, states what they are and how they will wind up becoming what they always have been.
iii) The Introverted Sensor - one of the most common types, in soaps and in real life - values domesticity, comfort, harmony, and domestic order and hygiene. He prefers to stay still, and opts for the traditional and conservative. But this latter preference does not translate into a rejection of pleasure: he likes bodily comfort and enjoyment. But he takes pleasure only in the present, the here and now, the close to hand, and does not want to progress beyond that - that is, he does not want to acquire more, he lacks all sense of upward mobility. Habitually, he thinks small. This is the reason why Donna Logan decides to move out of the Logan home - she is fleeing the cloying embrace of her Introverted Sensing (Si) family.
iv) Whereas the Introverted Intuitive thinks and talks in terms of what will be, the Extraverted Intuitive talks and thinks in terms of what could be and what would be - a subtle but important distinction. He sees the potentiality in things - how an acorn can become an oak tree. Tasked with finding a finding a boyfriend for her shy, reclusive sister Katie, Donna Logan stumbles across the brash, loud-mouthed Rocco Carner in the school library and instead of writing him off, she sees a potential love match between Katie and Rocco almost at once, and then tries to sell Rocco on her sister. Opportunism and entrepeneurialism characterise the Extraverted Intuitive. In Bold, the Extraverted Intutitive character can see the potentiality for a new relationship, a new fashion design or (when the Extraverted Intuitive is a predator, as is the case with the criminal Ron Deacon) a new victim.
As with the preceding sections, none of the above rules out a character from using a certain function; the descriptions above cover the Perceiving function a character feels most comfortable with. On that point, a type which gravitates towards a particular Perceiving function will cancel another Perceiving function out. For instance, the Introverted Intuitive does not value the domestic comfort, harmony and traditional of the Introverted Sensor, and the Introverted Sensor rejects any gloomy forecasting and philosophising, and drama, of the Introverted Intuitive. Likewise, the Extraverted Sensor lacks the Extraverted Intuitive's creativity and perception of the hidden connections between apparently disparate phenomena, whereas the Extraverted Intuitive lacks the Extraverted Sensor's willingness to use force to defend territory and effort to acquire material things.
This explains the differences between characters who share a same function. Take, for instance, the difference between the two matriarchs of the Forrester and Logan families - Stephanie Forrester and Beth Logan. Both of them are Judgers, and Extraverted Feelers, but could not be more unalike. The brooding and paranoid Stephanie shows a real flair for the dramatic; the homely and down to earth Beth, for housekeeping, cooking and taking care of her family. The two differing characters illustrate the difference between Introverted Intuition and Sensing respectively. (One gets the impression that Stephanie has never washed dishes in her life).
Another example: Kristen Forrester and Margo Lynley. Both of them work at Forrester Creations as fashion designers, and both are Introverted Feelers. But the snarky Kristen continually asserts herself whereas the drippy Margo comes across as a doormat. Again, the difference in Perceiving functions explains the difference between characters: Margo is an Extraverted Intuitive, Kristen, an Extraverted Sensor.
5. Introvert or Extravert: Center Stage versus a Life in the Shadows
A character discloses their Extraversion or Introversion through his environment and how they position themselves in relation to it. Introverted characters most frequently appear in dark, enclosed spaces – see Katie Logan in her bedroom, Conway Weston in his private investigator’s office, William Spencer in his penthouse and Margo Lynley in her designer’s studio. They prefer darkness and seclusion, whereas Extraverts like brightly-lit environments.
How do Extravert and Introvert characters use space? Extraverts seem to dominate their environment and use it as a stage in which they occupy the center. In the first episode, at backstage at the Forrester fashion show, Ridge, an Extravert, dominating the space, calls attention to himself, whereas Thorne and Eric, both Introverts, lingering in the background, hide themselves in what is a dark and shadowy set. Thorne in particular lacks all charisma and strikes us from the beginning as being pleasant and affable enough but a non-entity. His mother, Stephanie, on the other hand, exudes charisma and with a commanding presence (and brightly-coloured, stylish clothes), she occupies center stage at the brightly-lit, sumptuous Forrester mansion. Brooke also likes brightly-coloured clothes and shines in every scene. She glows, in contrast to her sister, Katie, who views herself as being disfigured by her severe acne and tries to hide herself away. She lives as a recluse, as do two of the other Introvert women characters, Caroline Spencer and Kristin Forrester.
Mark Hootsen, signing off.
