Walt Disney's mbti

[Rowan Tree]

Hi all, so... I'm thinking of writing a utopia (think fully automated luxury communism) in which Walt Disney awakes from a cryogenic chamber into the future, utopian world, Walt in Utopia. I realise the frozen at death story is completely apocryphal in the most untrue of all untrue senses, but I think it would be a fun premise to mix classic utopian themes with Americana retrofuturism and explore things like Disney's McCarthyism and more regressive ideas in contrast with his fondness for the stories he promoted about overcoming circumstances, hero's quests, etc. I'm starting my research with an extensive and authorised biography of the man, but, does anyone here have opinions about his likely mbti type?

 

[Rowan Tree]

 

[Asa]

Looked it up online and most places peg him as an ENXP, with ENFP's popularity higher than ENTP.

 

[Lady Jolanda]

Keirsey (from the book Please Understand Me) has him typed as an ENTP.

I think he's either an ENTP or ENFP, with ENTP more likely. (The whole curiosity futurism business he has going on.)

 

[Wyote]

That old timey ENTP vibe

 

[Rowan Tree]

Thank you @Asa @Lady Jolanda and @Wyote

ENTP does make sense, and I could see how an Ne-dom would make a great protagonist for a traveler to utopia narrative, so it works for me.

 

[MoonFlier]

Definitely an E N
I think he waffled between the F and T depending on when we're talking about in his life.
Not sure on the P, but would make so much sense.

Obviously there's so much more than this that goes into making a Walt. Truly it starts off with that creative imagination and drive to share it.

Not sure if this helps you or not: https://www.skewsme.com/walts_youth.html

Good luck with your project. Sounds like something I'd love to read.

 

[Rowan Tree]

Definitely an E N

Absolutely, I think I and S can be easily ruled out.

I think he waffled between the F and T depending on when we're talking about in his life.
Not sure on the P, but would make so much sense.

In terms of the possibility of ENFP, I don't get a strong Fi vibe from him. And ENFJ would make him an Fe-dom, which doesn't feel right either. In terms of ENTJ, that's possible, but Te-Ni seems to describe his process less well than Ne-Ti—that is, starting with multiple possibilities and evaluating them deductively. Not 100% certain about any of this though.

 

[Asa]

Do you know anything about how he behaved privately?

I've heard some intriguing things about his personality, but I'm not interested in him enough to do the research. I've heard he could be a jerk, though.

 

[Rowan Tree]

Do you know anything about how he behaved privately?

I've heard some intriguing things about his personality, but I'm not interested in him enough to do the research. I've heard he could be a jerk, though.

I'm hoping to learn more from his biography, but yes, by all accounts, he was quite bullying, driven, slow to complement, quick to criticise, feared, etc. In at least some of his functions, he must have been low functioning, which always complicates typing and especially typing at a distance. He also had many prejudices (most notoriously and heinously, antisemitism, but also a deep hatred of the political left). On the flip side, he clearly believed strongly in the value of his stories and medium, and from what I've seen it was not only about the profit for him. He seems to have had a very harsh childhood with an overbearing father, which he never considered malign, and a very strong sense of his own vision.

 

[Asa]

but also a deep hatred of the political left.

We don't have to get into this (and I'd prefer not to), but left as in leftist ideals, or left as in parties and movements at the time? Politics were very different in the US during his time. That's something you may need to research for authenticity.
His anti-semitism sucks. I'm curious about how you'll resolve that.

Have you ever been to Disney World?

 

[Rowan Tree]

We don't have to get into this (and I'd prefer not to), but left as in leftist ideals, or left as in parties and movements at the time? Politics were very different in the US during his time. That's something you may need to research for authenticity.

Absolutely, Disney's views on the left were very much informed by disputes with trade unions and McCarthyism that formed a backdrop to the politics of the times, sadly culminating with him giving names to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. I definitely want to research this in-depth, but it won't overtake the more central theme of the novel, which will be about different ways of aesthetically conceiving a better society and how aesthetics interact with politics.

His anti-semitism sucks. I'm curious about how you'll resolve that.

The AS is hard to comment on directly; since it comes mostly from an unfortunate scene in one movie that was removed and a lot of very unpleasant associations, and it is not easy to say how much it was heartfelt or whether it was long-lived. But I might bring up AS as a way to illustrate how it has been a part of different political economies (that is, its transmission from the late medieval period into early modernity). And there are broader issues that could be mentioned in terms of Disney's handling of race in his films, which was often less than exemplary.

Have you ever been to Disney World?

No, I liked theme parks as a kid, mostly for the haunted houses and more theatrical rides, but something like Disney World doesn't interest me much beyond its cultural meanings. I would probably have more fun sitting in a cafe with a novel.

 

[Asa]

No, I liked theme parks as a kid, mostly for the haunted houses and more theatrical rides, but something like Disney World doesn't interest me much beyond its cultural meanings. I would probably have more fun sitting in a cafe with a novel.

Me, too. I'm not a theme park person. I've been three times because, like everyone else in the US, my grandparents lived in Florida. It is really fun. It is like no other theme park. It's set up like a village, too, with all kinds of attractions other than rides.

When Epcot first opened we knew someone who worked there, so we got a private tour. It was nothing the regular tourists didn't see, but we got to walk around in the displays, rather than being on the ride that moved past the displayed steadily. They had a hydroponic veggie garden where the tomato plants were hanging in the air with a system that needed less water, and they were running an experiment for electricity from eels. I'm not sure what Epcot is like now because a lot of what they had on display as 'futuristic' is now outdated. (There are many articles on the topic that I'm sure you've perused.) At Epcot they were definitely experimenting with ideas to improve the future. At Disney, they had a similar display that has since been removed. There is something weird about all of this because Disney really banks on nostalgia, and it is utopian nostalgia that never existed, just like the films. All their futuristic efforts have a similar vibe that seems to look at the 1950s and 60s version of what the future could be, more than it looks at the actual future.

Then, there is the Disney gated community. Weird.

 

[Rowan Tree]

Me, too. I'm not a theme park person. I've been three times because, like everyone else in the US, my grandparents lived in Florida. It is really fun. It is like no other theme park. It's set up like a village, too, with all kinds of attractions other than rides.

When Epcot first opened we knew someone who worked there, so we got a private tour. It was nothing the regular tourists didn't see, but we got to walk around in the displays, rather than being on the ride that moved past the displayed steadily. They had a hydroponic veggie garden where the tomato plants were hanging in the air with a system that needed less water, and they were running an experiment for electricity from eels. I'm not sure what Epcot is like now because a lot of what they had on display as 'futuristic' is now outdated. (There are many articles on the topic that I'm sure you've perused.) At Epcot they were definitely experimenting with ideas to improve the future. At Disney, they had a similar display that has since been removed. There is something weird about all of this because Disney really banks on nostalgia, and it is utopian nostalgia that never existed, just like the films. All their futuristic efforts have a similar vibe that seems to look at the 1950s and 60s version of what the future could be, more than it looks at the actual future.

Then, there is the Disney gated community. Weird.

Absolutely, retrofuturism is a fascinating thing, and the ideas behind it deserve a careful dissection since they are full of fruitful contradictions. Moreover, retrofuturism constantly evolves—so, we have the futurism of the past; the imagined futurism of the past, and the satirical mix of futurism and nostalgia, all of which are deployed for different contemporary purposes. For the British left, for example, nostalgia about the postwar consensus is a major point of aesthetic and popular unity. However, this is uneasily coupled with the left's social liberalism, which is a tension that mirrors the fact that a lot of the popularism the left wishes to capture is socially reactionary as well as economically left-wing. Whereas, for the conservative right, you see a nostalgia for a social cohesion and traditionalism that was destroyed, not by socialism, but by the very economics conservatives advance. In this way, a retreat into retrofuturism allows the left and the right to differently avoid tensions in their ideas. It's interesting to me how utopianism can navigate nostalgia as a concept, especially when it is so attractive as an alternative to a more rootless utopianism, and all the more so during times of turbulent politics and economy.

 

[Asa]

I wouldn't even call it retrofuturism, TBH, even though the way you are defining it is accurate. It isn't like midcentury modern, or like Peter Elson, Roger Dean and other such sci-fi artists. Those examples of retro-futurism still look fresh and futuristic, despite being retro, and they're still used when people want modern or futuristic spaces, either in their homes or in design. Saarinen, van der Rohe, Breuer, etc are all still used in modern decor despite the fact that... for example... the Wassily chair was designed in 1925. Video games like No Man's Sky and Destiny are supposed to be set in the future, but have clear references to the gorgeous sci-fi art from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

 

[Wyote]

I would probably have more fun sitting in a cafe with a novel.

Me, too.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/animal-kingdom/rainforest-cafe-animal-kingdom/

 

[Asa]

@Wyote That doesn't look like a quiet, comfortable place where one could get lost in a novel. LOL.

 

[Wyote]

@Wyote That doesn't look like a quiet, comfortable place where one could get lost in a novel. LOL.

Lol ok that's true. But it is a cafe!

 

[MoonFlier]

Lol ok that's true. But it is a cafe!

There's always this one... I hear it is whisper quiet.

 

[Asa]

LOL! Is that in the Fort Wilderness section of the park, or whatever it is called? We stayed there when I was in grade school. It was the cheapest place to stay because eco tourism wasn't popular yet, plus it offered horseback riding, which was the best. I would have given up the entire theme park to stay with the horses. There was also a water park.