GOP Candidates, Buffy Villains, and Enneagram Types

Check out the article "The GOP Primary Field in Buffy Villains" on this blog. It pairs the GOP candidates with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer villains they most resemble, and then explains why. Of course, I immediately wondered if this document could provide valuable clues to the personality types of the candidates (or the villains, if you prefer.)
Previously, in her article "Election 'o8", Mary Beth speculated about the Enneagram types of various political candidates. Mary Beth said she thought Fred Thompson might be a 5, an 8w9, or a 9w8. This article pairs Thompson with The Judge, and they really do sort of look alike. The article's description of the two as "a lethargic mess" who "didn't accomplish much" supports the theory that Thompson's personality has a 9-ish component. (Sloth is the vice associated with type 9.)
Mary Beth said Mitt Romney was a 3. The article pairs Romney with Mayor Richard Wilkins and says "They're both clever and generically slick politicians, programmed to appeal to middle America." If that's not type 3, I don't know what is.
Mary Beth said she didn't know what type Rudy Guliani was, but that various people were typing him as a 1 or a 7. This article pairs him with Angelus (the evil version of Angel), who is typed as a 3w4 on the Enneatrek site.
And last, but not least, I know you're dying for our insights on the personality type of Duncan Hunter. Mary Beth didn't speculate about him, and I don't know anything about him, but he is paired with Adam, who has a 5-ish/8-ish vibe to me. Seriously, when he walks up to a human boy, asks, "How do you work?" and then dissects him to find out, my heart just skips a beat. He is the only Buffy villain I have ever had a crush on.

TV Round-up

As Cindi has mentioned previously, we gather with friends each Monday night for the ongoing project of watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series in its entirety. We're now about halfway through season 4. One common thread that runs through a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes is metaphor made flesh; for example, a female teacher who preys sexually on teenage male students turns into a human-size praying mantis, and a mother who pushes too hard for her daughter to succeed is portrayed as literally a witch. (Thanks to our friend Rick, both for making this observation when we were way back in Season 1 and also for organizing the Buffyfest in the first place.) Our most recent episode, Superstar, reifies the narcissism of the unhealthy 3. The split between the two parts of the personality (the idealized image and the impoverished and rejected true self within) are acted out a la The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, and Forbidden Planet. Superstar may have been my favorite episode so far; it's certainly one of my top few. And Cindi has written about the episode in detail here.

Another show I've been watching a lot of lately is Monk, and I've seen some Enneagram styles portrayed in that. In case you're not familiar, Monk is a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was thrown off the police force for psychiatric problems, but is still a great detective, maintains a warm relationship with the force, works as a consultant for them, and hopes to be reinstated one day. He's riddled with fears: of germs, heights, glaciers, spiders, and, as is often mentioned, milk, among many others. His 1-ishness is portrayed as giving him an edge because he's able to walk into a crime scene, survey it, and see what "doesn't fit," i.e., inconsistencies. At the same time, his germophobia, hand-washing, and compulsive need for order are played for laughs. It is my impression that a real-life person with as many of the unhealthy 1 traits as Monk has would in no way be as sheerly LOVABLE as Mr. Monk is. (I have very little expertise or experience with OCD, so read the last comment with a grain of salt.) I read Monk's character more as an amalgam of 1-ish obsession with order and 5-ish avoidance than as straight 1. Judith Searle discusses The Police Story as an example of a 1 narrative in this excellent essay on Story Genres and Enneagram Types. She writes: "Related One genres are ... the police story, in which the law enforcement professional is the hero who tries to restore the moral order to society. Examples of the police story include The Silence of the Lambs, The French Connection, Serpico, and Prince of the City." There's also a Great Detective archetype who's 5-ish (Sherlock Holmes) and 6-ish (Columbo): a head-type figuring things out. (Many Monk episodes even start by showing the viewer how the crime was done, borrowing a page from the Columbo playbook.) Returning to Monk: two other characters represent clear Enneagram styles: the Captain, Leland Stottlemeyer is an average-to-healthy 8 (gruff and forthright), while another homicide detective, Randy, is a phobic 6 (self-doubting, insecure, submissive) and plays a typical 6 role, the sidekick. [In one episode, Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist, Randy drops off the force because the Captain doesn't believe he actually witnessed a murder while under sedation in the dentist's office. Randy goes back to playing in the band (The Randy Disher Project) he formed in seventh grade and makes a music video of the song Don't Need a Badge. In the video, you can see Randy acting counterphobically, singing "I don't need a gun to make me feel strong; I don't need a captain shooting me down all day long; I don't need your mustache, don't you condescend to me; I don't need a badge, cause baby, I am free." In that same episode, the Captain tells someone on the phone that Randy is the single most annoying human being he knows... then he sees Monk walk by gargling because of his fear of the dentist, and says "except, of course, for him."] The other main character, Monk's assistant Natalie, has no apparent Enneagram type. She plays an Everywoman role.

One thing I like about this time of year is the End-of-Year Best-of Lists. In the TV category of MY End-of-Year Best-of List, one show would have crushed all competition, had there been any competition to speak of. That show is Mad Men, an AMC original series that aired for 13 episodes over the summer. It's been renewed for a second season that will start next summer (or that was the plan before the writer's strike, anyway.) It's set in 1960 in a Madison Avenue ad agency. Each episode is set in a different month of 1960. (It occurs to me that that's impossible since there are 13 episodes and 12 months but... close enough.) There are two MAJOR themes in the show: one is how different life was in 1960. Everybody smokes constantly, and they drink at work, and all the married men fool around and chase women, and sex roles are very rigid, and the sexism is extremely overt, and all black characters are in subsurvient roles. The other major theme is character, and specifically, the mysteriousness of character. Our main character (both hero and villain), Don Draper, is a 3, and not just any 3, but an imposter literally pretending to be someone he's not. Another of the main characters, Pete, is also a 3, and in fact, even the characters who aren't 3s have a 3-ish feel, partially because surface traits are very valued in this world (that they're in advertising is no accident.) I don't know the Enneatypes of the two main female characters, Peggy (Don's secretary) and Betty (Don's wife), but neither is healthy and both are very internally contradictory. (Peggy is sympathetic and the viewer roots for her, but we don't feel that we understand her. There are some seriously odd behaviors there, including a huge chunk of denial. Betty is a little less sympathetic: she's a Seven Sisters grad, a former model, a beauty, and a housewife to philandering imposter Don. Personality-wise, she's in despair: a regressed little girl inside a brittle shell. She undergoes Freudian analysis, which is doing her no good whatsoever, especially since her analyst tells her husband Don what she talks about in therapy! Both characters are poised for big change as we move more deeply into the 60s: they are about to encounter Sex and the Single Girl and The Feminine Mystique, respectively.) The big boss, Bertram Cooper, is an Ayn Rand-loving 8; Roger Sterling, the other partner in the Sterling-Cooper ad agency, is another 3; Salvatore (the closeted gay creative director) is most likely a 4; Harry (my sweet, straightforward Mad Men tv boyfriend) might be a 6 (or could be 9, or 5 -- he doesn't get a lot of screen time). It's an ensemble show: episodes focus on various characters, and minor characters are developed with specific details, and great writing and costumes and set design support the whole thing. And Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" plays in all the ads for the show. I imagine AMC is still showing it to build an audience for season 2; yes, the website says it's still being shown Thursday nights at 10 Eastern, 9 Central. Check it out!

The archetypal 3 narrative is the social climbing and imposter narrative (for example, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Vanity Fair, Gone With the Wind). I love the 3 imposter narrative (it's no wonder we root for Don Draper in Mad Men -- don't we always root for this character when he's the protagonist?), and I also love the story of the narcissistic 3 who starts to get in touch with real feeling (Groundhog Day, Tom Cruise's role in Rain Man.) To read more about enneatypes in movies and books, see Tom Condon's The Enneagram Movie and Video Guide and Judith Searle's The Literary Enneagram: Characters from the Inside Out. I highly recommend them both.

I said Mad Men had little competition for show of the year, and you'll really see what I mean when I tell you that my second favorite show of the year was VH1's The Pick-Up Artist. Even I admit that it wasn't all that good. Didn't matter; I liked it anyway. It's an imposter-by-proxy story; instead of watching a 3 acting like something he's not for personal gain and/or kicks, you're watching a 3 (Mystery) who's broken his technique down into a set of rules in order to teach it to a bunch of head types. (They weren't literally all head types; I'm speaking archetypally.) You can watch all episodes online at VH-1's site. I would also recommend the book The Game by Neil Strauss, in which our hero Neil Strauss, aka "Style," a journalist, poses as a civilian, infiltrates the pick-up community, learns to pick up girls, moves in with Mystery and a bunch of fellow pick-up artists, observes a lot of dysfunctional behavior including more than one breakdown by Mystery, becomes disenchanted with the whole thing and quits the community, then ends the book, but the story doesn't end there --because he now teaches pick-up himself here.

I have a few more tv shows to discuss, but am going to save them for another post or posts.

"It's a Lie": 3-ish Themes in an episode of Buffy

Studying the Enneagram is not the only hobby Mary Beth and I have in common; we are also watching the entire run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on dvd. This post concerns the 3-sh themes in the 4th season episode "Superstar" (click here for a thorough synopsis), which aired in 2000.

As the episode opens, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Anya are fighting vampires. When they discover there are five them, Buffy asserts that maybe she could take on two, but the others tell her that the remaining three would kill her. The gang decides they need help. As a viewer, I think this is odd, because Buffy has saved the world from much worse many times before.

The group goes to a mansion. Once inside, they approach a huge, intimidating desk. The chair behind the desk is turned way from the camera so we can't see the occupant. Buffy says something like, "We need your help." The chair turns, and we see that it's Jonathan, who is, basically, this dude that Buffy went to high school with, only now he's looking all James Bond suave/ Dr. Evil smug. He agrees to help.

They all meet up at Giles' place. Willow is on her laptop, studying an image of the crypt where the vampires stay. She is having trouble finding a good way for the gang to sneak in, but Jonathan immediately sees one, and it is agreed that he and Buffy will go to fight the vamps together. As the meeting adjourns, Jonathan passes a chessboard, moves a piece, and announces that he has checkmated Giles (again).

Jonathan and Buffy proceed to kick vampire butt. A vampire gets by Buffy, but Jonathan takes it out. Buffy is a little upset that one got by her, but Jonathan consoles her by telling her she did her best. Buffy expresses doubt, saying it didn't feel like her best at all. Then, paparazzi appear to take pictures of Jonathan, who is, apparently, a huge celebrity.

As the episode goes on, we see various pieces of evidence -- like a poster of Jonathan as a professional basketball player and Willow and Tara making a huge shrine to Jonathan -- that Jonathan is, in fact, simply the best human being, in all categories, that there is. Coincidentally, this was also my (as yet unrealized) childhood ambition. It also resonates strongly with Enneagram type 3, who at their best, "often become outstanding, a kind of human ideal, embodying widely admired qualities." (Riso and Hudson, Personality Types, 95) At their worst, of course, they only mimic these qualities by creating a false image.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Riley are having trouble in their relationship because Buffy is still upset that he slept with Faith (albeit when Faith was in Buffy's body.) Jonathan advises her to forgive him and says that she and Riley have a special relationship that is worth the hard work they will have to put into it. He goes on to say, "If you really want it, you can make anything happen." 3s are often described as "pragmatic and calculating... able to get what they want." (PT, 99) Later on, Jonathan will also advise Riley to make amends with Buffy by assuring her that she is the only one for him.

Back at initiative headquarters, the soldiers are being debriefed about their mission to destroy Adam. Jonathan is introduced as the group's new tactical consultant.

There is also a new monster in town. It has a strange symbol on its forehead and attacks a girl.

That night, at the Bronze, Jonathan is on stage, singing with a jazz band. Our heroes are there to watch the show, and they are enthralled. Xander accuses Anya of calling out Jonathan's name while they were having sex. Jonathan dedicates a song to Buffy and Riley. As they dance together, they sort of make up. Then, the girl who was attacked by the monster comes in and tells Jonathan what happened.

Everybody goes to Jonathan's mansion. There, the girl describes the monster and draws the symbol that was on its forehead. Seeing it, Jonathan dismisses the group's concern and compares the monster to a scared animal, assuring them that it's nothing to worry about. Buffy thinks she should patrol, but Jonathan says it's not necessary.

Next, we see Adam and one of his minions looking at several television monitors. Jonathan is on all of them, being fabulous in various capacities. Adam asks, "Who is that?" and the minion is like, "Are you kidding me?" and then Adam cuts right to the heart of everything, saying, "It's a lie." (Deceit is the passion, or sin, associated with type 3.)

Back at Jonathan's place, we see two blonde twins beckoning Jonathan to come to bed. While no one is trying to track down the monster, it attacks Tara. When Willow finds out, she is very confused because she had total faith in Jonathan, who said the monster wasn't dangerous. "But, Jonathan said it," she states.

Buffy drops by Xander's to look at his collection of Jonathan-themed comics and trading cards. Anya is there, reading Jonathan's autobiography. She is right at the part where he "invents the internet." This is a reference to a rather famous alleged lie/ exaggeration. Describing a 3's descent into unhealthy behaviors, Riso and Hudson write, "Threes begin to oversell themselves, making extraordinary claims about their achievements." (PT, 116) But, of course, in the world of this episode, to paraphrase Michael Jackson, the lie has become the truth.

When the group next meets at Giles' apartment, Buffy, putting her type 6 skepticism to good use (I see her as a type 6 reluctant hero, whereas this page types her as a 4), alleges that Jonathan is just a little too perfect. After all, he's better at slaying than she is, and she's the Slayer, and isn't that supposed to mean something? She also points out some logical flaws -- like, how could Jonathan have graduated from medical school while he was still in high school? As Riso and Hudson say of some Threes, "although they are desperate to convince themselves and others that they are outstanding, others may begin to sense that they are too good to be true: much of what they say about themselves just does not add up." (PT, 116)

To counter Buffy's remarks, Xander asserts that Jonathan is just perfect enough. Buffy asks if Giles has a Jonathan swimsuit calendar. When he produces it, the gang flips through it and sees that Jonathan's shoulder bears the same mark as the monster's forehead.

Just then, Jonathan arrives. He explains that there is a connection between him and the monster. He has fought it before and becomes confused in its presence. He had its mark put on his shoulder as a reminder not to underestimate it. Buffy and Jonathan agree to track down the monster together.

When they go, the rest of the gang looks up the symbol in one of their fabulous reference books. They find out that it is part of a spell that can be used to turn a person into "a paragon -- the best of everything, everyone's ideal."

The only caveat is that using the spell also creates a counterbalance -- "everyone's worst nightmare." That's what the monster is.

By this time, Buffy and Jonathan are searching a cave. Suddenly the monster jumps out at them and knocks Jonathan out.

Back at Giles' place, everyone is speculating about how the world would change if Buffy kills the monster and Jonathan returns to normal. Clearly, they are not wholeheartedly in favor of the change. Giles says that the only thing that would really change is Jonathan. The rest is real.

In truth, though, even though only Jonathan is any different from how things usually are, his change has changed everything for the worst. He has displaced everyone from their roles -- by being the smartest one, he has taken Willow's place as researcher and Giles' place as strategist. He has displaced Buffy as the natural leader of the group, destroying her confidence and stunting her potential. By being the most attractive man, he has eroded the intimacy between Xander and Anya. By being a paragon, he has brought about the worst kind of misplacement of faith -- in Xander, who misguidedly looks up to him, and in Willow, who trusts him so much that she doesn't protect her friend. But Jonathan doesn't really care who gets hurt; his lie that the monster was not a threat is a lie that is "far from insignificant, causing others enormous harm." (PT, 122)

When Jonathan comes to, he sees the monster starting to overpower Buffy. He rushes to help, but doesn't seem to be able to hurt it. Buffy asks Jonathan what she should do, but he says she is going to have to handle it by herself. She seems afraid, but manages to fight valiantly against the creature. The monster knocks Buffy down near the edge of an open pit and it seems like it's going to push her in, but Jonathan tackles it, and he and the monster fall in instead. Buffy grabs Jonathan's foot, saving him, but the monster falls to its death.

On campus, the next day, Buffy spots Jonathan, who is now back to normal. He says everyone seems to be forgetting about what happened, but some people are still mad. He reveals that, after his suicide attempt (a 3's narcissism is fueled by feelings of worthlessness), he met a kid in counseling who taught him how to do the spell. He says the kid really downplayed the evil monster part.

Buffy tells him that that's not the only reason people are angry with him. They didn't like "being sock puppets in his world," she says. People don't like being manipulated. They didn't like living a lie.

Jonathan counters, untruthfully, although he may really believe it, that they weren't sock puppets; they were friends. Here we see the unhealthy 3's difficulty with real relationships. As Riso and Hudson write in Personality Types, "Unhealthy Threes are unable... to have empathy for others. Because they do not see other people as real or as having value without reference to themselves, others become merely providers of attention and admiration, what are called 'narcissistic suppliers', as objects to be used to aggrandize themselves." We saw this tendency toward one-sided, shallow "relationships" in Jonathan also in his choice to have a sexual relationship with a pair of twins, rather than a real girlfriend, when he could presumably have any woman he wants.

Jonathan then remembers the bit of advice he gave Buffy about a relationship taking hard work, and he says that he thinks the advice was right. This shows growth for Jonathan, because it is in direct contrast to the 3's tendency to "begin to coast through life, relying on sex appeal and charm", and, as they become less healthy, to have "whatever energy they may have extended in cultivating relationships stop." (PT, 118)

And yes, I realize that Oz (pictured above) isn't even in this episode, but his was the only action figure I could readily locate. Plus, a little birdie (http://www.buffyguide.com/) tells me we haven't quite seen the last of him yet.