Monday, February 1, 2016

Disney's Tangled- Rapunzel [ESFJ]

I know she's always typed as an Intuitive, especially an ENFP, and it's understandable why; I had once typed her as an ENFJ myself. She does, after all, just "know" the lights are "meant for me!" But is that really indicative of someone with strong intuitive preference?

I had also mistyped Carmen Lowell from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as an ENFJ for similar reasons- she sees signs in everything and believes in fate, much like Rapunzel. But both girls are ESFJs! They hold onto their own routines and traditions that are important to them, and fear change. More on this later.

Also, there's this annoying tendency to type nerdy/quirky/silly ESFJs as ENFPs, not only Rapunzel but characters like Steven Universe. Why? Their Fe is very obvious. Why must Intuitives get the credit for being imaginative when Sensors are,well, often called called creators for a reason?

Anyway, to the typing:


Extroverted Feeling (Fe): Rapunzel is very warm to everyone she meets. She's a people-person and likes to create a happy environment at home for Gothel. She is charismatic and easily inspires others- she gets everyone at the Snuggly Duckling to open up their feelings to her. She's very friendly and you'd be hard-pressed to find a single person in the movie who dislikes her at all (even Gothel goes out of her way to make her happy for her birthday). Due to the fact that she's something of a people-pleaser, this leads Rapunzel to need validation from others, and feel insecure if she doesn't have it. She can also be over-emotional, panicking when she thinks she may hurt Gothel. (Really, where do people see an ENFP's Fi in her at all?)


Introverted Sensing (Si): Rapunzel likes routine, and keeps to it everyday: chores, crafts, exercise, re-reading her books, and so on-and does these without fail, even though it all starts to bore her. She never misses the lights that appear every year on her birthday, which becomes a special tradition for her. She pays attention to details and remembers them well, like the sun symbol she's painted so much since childhood, and where exactly she's seen it before. She can be passive, doing as Gothel says and sometimes letting Flynn lead for her. She's always been taught that the outside is dangerous and believes it without questioning, because that's how Gothel has always taught her to believe.


Extroverted Intuition (Ne): Rapunzel has stayed in her tower for 18 years, only leaving when Flynn arrives and presents the possibility of leaving safely. She channels her imagination through her preexisting skills as an artist (Si). She eventually pieces together her backstory just from seeing the sun symbol. She enjoys new ideas, as shown in the "I've Got a Dream" sequence. Her lower Ne makes her very paranoid of bad outcomes, though- will Gothel be hurt? What about all the dangers in the world? Will Flynn really leave her as Gothel warns?



Introverted Thinking (Ti): Rapunzel is curious and wants to figure out who, or what, is behind the lanterns that mysteriously appear every year on her birthday. She is shown to enjoy the logical game of chess and solving puzzles at home. Once she pieces together the truth of her heritage, she is able to objectively look at her "mother" for the first time. She sometimes over-analyzes her own feelings, and can sometimes find creative solutions to problems, like using her hair as a lasso or underwater light. She rationalizes her desire to leave the tower, even while admitting it would be immoral to defy and deceive Gothel, so she won't feel guilty about it. However, she primarily prefers to make decisions based on how she feels.

4 comments:

  1. I personally think she's an ENFJ with high Ne or ESFJ with high Ni, cause I can see both forms of intuition in her :D

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  3. I respect your opinion but this is a huge mistype on your part, she is an obvious ENFP and Ne user and dom. She's bad with details and is very imaginative and thinks about possibilities, whats out there and out comes. Rapunzel being ENFP makes the most sense and Ne is the function she uses the most. She also is very individualistic and inspires people with Ne + Fi, she inspires the vikings to talk about and follow their dreams, a testament of Ne + Fi for inspires others and to do the impossible and go against the norm in order to follow their dreams and be happy. She battles with going back to the tower and following her desires and ultimately stays with Flynn and keeps on her journey despite breaking the rules, this showcases her Fi and being more individualistic rather than collective like Fe is. She acts nothing like an ESFJ, and an ESFJ would have never left the tower and if they did they most likely would have went back after battlting with themself rather than keep going and break the rules, especially ESFJ since SJ value rules and follow their parents orders which Rapunzel didn't do twice in the film! ENFP makes the most sense for Rapunzel, I think deep down even the naysayers know it.

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