Michael Pierce | What happened to the Charlie Brown video @MichaelPiercePhilosophy | Uploaded December 2018 | Updated October 2024, 9 minutes ago.
Blargh.
Abridged script to Charlie Brown video, cut to fit in the YouTube description box.
I think Charlie Brown is an INFP. At least, from the classic short A Charlie Brown Christmas, he is. And although it is only twenty-five minutes long, the portrayal of Charlie Brown still resonated deeply with what I recognize as the archetypal INFP. The main conflict of A Charlie Brown Christmas is Charlie Brown’s feeling that, "Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy..." He does not get the feeling of joy that everyone else seems to get from Christmas traditions, because to him they have lost any deeper meaning or value that would reward him for doing them. Thus, he does not harmonize with the feeling of the community around him, and this makes him stick out like a sore thumb. No one in the community seems to parallel his dissenting feelings, and they treat him as a weird and irritating outsider who, for some reason, insists on being a wet blanket. "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world,.." Note that Charlie Brown is not labeled something generic – the only category that seems to capture him properly is himself, as an individual unto himself. He has no role in the community: he’s not even the town idiot. He’s just Charlie Brown. The individuality of his problem is further emphasized when Lucy tries to pin down his psychiatric ailment in words. Introverted feeling resists being subsumed by the objective community. It feels violated, flattened, and misunderstood, when one tries to reduce it to a word that was not its own idea. Yet, unlike the ISFP, who is generally very resistant to categorization, the INFP is more open to trying it out temporarily, because their Ne is genuinely interested in new perspectives from other people. Hence, Charlie Brown does try the therapy, and is willing to put up with Lucy’s antics for a while before becoming exasperated. Then something very intriguing happens: "How would you like to be the director of our Christmas play?" "Me? You want me to be the director of the Christmas play?" In my experience, an INTP would not at all be thrilled by an opportunity to lead other people. But Charlie Brown leaps at the opportunity. And I think this is very representative of the INFP’s inferior Te – they actually do want to “get things done,” they like seeing a dream unfold in physical reality, though at their worst they can be neurotically perfectionistic about it, so that people are not always so pleased to work under them. The NFP types, due to the presence of Te, are much more likely to get an idea, and actually try to carry it forth into reality (and seem to the bystander INFJ to be woefully unaware of how unappealing their brainchild looks). "I don't care. We'll decorate it, and it'll be just right for our play. Besides, I think it needs me." This is perhaps one of the most INFP moments ever. Charlie Brown sees and values a potential that no one else values or sees the potential of. That is the secret motto of the INFPs I’ve known, and it is both their greatest strength and weakness. They see the diamond in the rough that others pass by – but they are also sometimes taken in by shards of glass. This is the peculiar way in which NFPs are susceptible to bad relationships: they anticipate a beautiful bloom that never comes, and are cut and poisoned for their trouble. But I have also seen the INFP’s ability to visit the people no one else will visit, to nourish precisely what no one else will nourish, and when the flower does bloom, boy, it is beautiful. And that is a large part of what A Charlie Brown Christmas is about. But we’ll get back to that. He attempts, somewhat, to remedy the commercialist attitude of people when directing the Christmas play, but he does not have a sufficiently good grip on the general feeling of his actors, and cannot persuade them. He does not have a very commanding or charismatic external presence (unlike Linus later on – hint, hint -- I think Linus is the INFJ or something.) Angry that his vision is not materializing,
...The climax of the story comes when the children all reject Charlie Brown’s chosen tree, because of its external appearance. They’re all incredibly mean to him for it – another INFP archetypal theme, of community rejection..... [Charlie Brown leaves the theater, smiling, while all his critics follow him, baffled.] THE END
Blargh.
Abridged script to Charlie Brown video, cut to fit in the YouTube description box.
I think Charlie Brown is an INFP. At least, from the classic short A Charlie Brown Christmas, he is. And although it is only twenty-five minutes long, the portrayal of Charlie Brown still resonated deeply with what I recognize as the archetypal INFP. The main conflict of A Charlie Brown Christmas is Charlie Brown’s feeling that, "Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy..." He does not get the feeling of joy that everyone else seems to get from Christmas traditions, because to him they have lost any deeper meaning or value that would reward him for doing them. Thus, he does not harmonize with the feeling of the community around him, and this makes him stick out like a sore thumb. No one in the community seems to parallel his dissenting feelings, and they treat him as a weird and irritating outsider who, for some reason, insists on being a wet blanket. "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world,.." Note that Charlie Brown is not labeled something generic – the only category that seems to capture him properly is himself, as an individual unto himself. He has no role in the community: he’s not even the town idiot. He’s just Charlie Brown. The individuality of his problem is further emphasized when Lucy tries to pin down his psychiatric ailment in words. Introverted feeling resists being subsumed by the objective community. It feels violated, flattened, and misunderstood, when one tries to reduce it to a word that was not its own idea. Yet, unlike the ISFP, who is generally very resistant to categorization, the INFP is more open to trying it out temporarily, because their Ne is genuinely interested in new perspectives from other people. Hence, Charlie Brown does try the therapy, and is willing to put up with Lucy’s antics for a while before becoming exasperated. Then something very intriguing happens: "How would you like to be the director of our Christmas play?" "Me? You want me to be the director of the Christmas play?" In my experience, an INTP would not at all be thrilled by an opportunity to lead other people. But Charlie Brown leaps at the opportunity. And I think this is very representative of the INFP’s inferior Te – they actually do want to “get things done,” they like seeing a dream unfold in physical reality, though at their worst they can be neurotically perfectionistic about it, so that people are not always so pleased to work under them. The NFP types, due to the presence of Te, are much more likely to get an idea, and actually try to carry it forth into reality (and seem to the bystander INFJ to be woefully unaware of how unappealing their brainchild looks). "I don't care. We'll decorate it, and it'll be just right for our play. Besides, I think it needs me." This is perhaps one of the most INFP moments ever. Charlie Brown sees and values a potential that no one else values or sees the potential of. That is the secret motto of the INFPs I’ve known, and it is both their greatest strength and weakness. They see the diamond in the rough that others pass by – but they are also sometimes taken in by shards of glass. This is the peculiar way in which NFPs are susceptible to bad relationships: they anticipate a beautiful bloom that never comes, and are cut and poisoned for their trouble. But I have also seen the INFP’s ability to visit the people no one else will visit, to nourish precisely what no one else will nourish, and when the flower does bloom, boy, it is beautiful. And that is a large part of what A Charlie Brown Christmas is about. But we’ll get back to that. He attempts, somewhat, to remedy the commercialist attitude of people when directing the Christmas play, but he does not have a sufficiently good grip on the general feeling of his actors, and cannot persuade them. He does not have a very commanding or charismatic external presence (unlike Linus later on – hint, hint -- I think Linus is the INFJ or something.) Angry that his vision is not materializing,
...The climax of the story comes when the children all reject Charlie Brown’s chosen tree, because of its external appearance. They’re all incredibly mean to him for it – another INFP archetypal theme, of community rejection..... [Charlie Brown leaves the theater, smiling, while all his critics follow him, baffled.] THE END
