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Woody Allen

EyeSeeCold

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This guy is great. I'm just starting to get into his works. I found out about him from a quote I remembered but never knew where it came from. "You know nothing of my work!"

Love and Death:

Annie Hall:

He's definitely INTP.
 

snafupants

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Adymus thinks Woody Allen is INFJ, for what it is worth.
 

EyeSeeCold

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I'm not going to argue with that, if you (or he) want(s) to discuss it we can, but I am not basing INTP off functions or anything typology related. His lifestyle seems very similar to mine, and I can easily relate to his comedy and demeanor.
 

snafupants

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We do not argue on the forum anyway, we discuss, haha. Your parenthetical, grammatically correct stuff is (unintentionally) funny.

No doubt, his movies are brilliant. He basically calls out anyone too vain or otherwise off course in life - as that Annie Hall clip illustrates.

Match Point, which he directed, is better than Crimes and Misdemeanors, imao, and Scarlett Johansson is certainly easy on the eyes in it. Scoop was deadpanned, but it has its moments.
 

BigApplePi

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I remember that scene in the movie line from Annie Hall. As an aside I posted with someone who studied with Marshall Mcluhan's son. At that time I didn't know I was a P type, but I refused to go along with this ENTJ guy's campaign to kill something. He used every dirty trick in the media book to get me banned as if you were not for him you must be against him.
 

Jedi

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Play It Again Sam is good
 

EyeSeeCold

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We do not argue on the forum anyway, we discuss, haha. Your parenthetical, grammatically correct stuff is (unintentionally) funny.

No doubt, his movies are brilliant. He basically calls out anyone too vain or otherwise off course in life - as that Annie Hall clip illustrates.

Match Point, which he directed, is better than Crimes and Misdemeanors, imao, and Scarlett Johansson is certainly easy on the eyes in it. Scoop was deadpanned, but it has its moments.
If I don't lose interest, I'll go for those.

I remember that scene in the movie line from Annie Hall. As an aside I posted with someone who studied with Marshall Mcluhan's son. At that time I didn't know I was a P type, but I refused to go along with this ENTJ guy's campaign to kill something. He used every dirty trick in the media book to get me banned as if you were not for him you must be against him.
:confused:

Do you like this?

http://linksreel.com/curb-your-enthusiasm-season-5-episode-10-the-end

It's a bit different than Woody Allen, but I have heard many say the humor is similar. I really liked this show.
I've seen only one more episode after that post in the thread snafu linked to. It was laugh-out-loud funny. :) It was the episode in which Larry went to the support group meeting for sexually abused people. If more were like that one I guess I would like the show.
 

Absurdity

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Resurrecting this thread to avoid derailing the one this quote was posted in:

Fair point, but consider Woody Allen. Surely some kind of Intuitive? If you study him however you see somebody who obsessively exercises and loves watching sports, even though the body type and neuroticism are atypical. INFJ has looked into his personal life and sees an ISTP, albeit somewhat atypical. Regardless it could be either one, and I'd agree the ISTP's I know are not huge readers and writers.

I too believe Allen to be a sensor of sorts. Snafu says that Adymus has him pegged as an INFJ, but I find that somewhat doubtful (although not impossible).

I think this interview with him is pretty revealing, though, of how a sensor "intellectual" or "creative" might operate. Yet, at the same time, there are some things that seem to contradict my urge to peg him as a sensor, such as these quotes pulled from the interview:

I might add, the hours are better if you’re a prose writer. It’s much more fun to wake up in the morning, just drift into the next room and be alone and write, than it is to wake up in the morning and have to go shoot a film. Movies are a big demand. It’s a physical job. You’ve got to be someplace, on schedule, on time. And you are dependent on people. I know Norman Mailer said that if he had started his career today he might be in film rather than a novelist. I think films are a younger man’s enterprise. For the most part it’s strenuous. Beyond a certain point, I don’t think I want that exertion; I mean I don’t want to feel that my whole life I’m going to have to wake up at six in the morning, be out of the house at seven so I can be out on some freezing street or some dull meadow shooting. That’s not all that thrilling. It’s fun to putter around the house, stay home.

I’ll think of an idea walking down the street, and I’ll mark it down immediately. And I always want to make it into something. I’ve never had a block. I’m talking within the limits of my abilities. But in my own small way, I’ve had an embarrassment of riches. I’ll have five ideas and I’m dying to do them all. It takes weeks or months where I agonize and obsess over which to do next. I wish sometimes someone would choose for me. If someone said, Do idea number three next, that would be fine. But I have never had any sense of running dry. People always ask me, Do you ever think you’ll wake up one morning and not be funny? That thought would never occur to me—it’s an odd thought and not realistic. Because funny and me are not separate. We’re one. The best time to me is when I’m through with a project and deciding about a new one. That’s because it’s at a period when reality has not yet set in. The idea in your mind’s eye is so wonderful, and you fantasize it in the perfect flash of a second—just beautifully conceived. But then when you have to execute it, it doesn’t come out as you’d fantasized. Production is where the problems begin, where reality starts to set in. As I was saying before, the closest I ever come to realizing the concept is in prose. Most of the things that I’ve written and published, I’ve felt that I executed my original idea pretty much to my satisfaction. But I’ve never, ever felt that, not even close, about anything I’ve written for film or the stage. I always felt I had such a dazzling idea—where did I go wrong? You go wrong from the first day. Everything’s a compromise. For instance, you’re not going to get Marlon Brando to do your script, you’re going to get someone lesser. The room you see in your mind’s eye is not the room you’re filming in. It’s always a question of high aims, grandiose dreams, great bravado and confidence, and great courage at the typewriter; and then, when I’m in the midst of finishing a picture and everything’s gone horribly wrong and I’ve reedited it and reshot it and tried to fix it, then it’s merely a struggle for survival. You’re happy only to be alive. Gone are all the exalted goals and aims, all the uncompromising notions of a perfect work of art, and you’re just fighting so people won’t storm up the aisles with tar and feathers. With many of my films—almost all—if I’d been able to get on screen what I conceived, they would have been much better pictures. Fortunately, the public doesn’t know about how great the picture played in my head was, so I get away with it.

[In response to being asked about themes in his work:] The same things come up time after time. They’re the things that are on my mind, and one is always feeling for new ways to express them. It’s hard to think of going out and saying, Gee, I have to find something new to express. What sort of things recur? For me, certainly the seductiveness of fantasy and the cruelty of reality. As a creative person, I’ve never been interested in politics or any of the solvable things. What interested me were always the unsolvable problems: the finiteness of life and the sense of meaninglessness and despair and the inability to communicate. The difficulty in falling in love and maintaining it. Those things are much more interesting to me than . . . I don’t know, the Voting Rights Act. In life, I do follow politics a certain amount—I do find it interesting as a citizen but I’d never think of writing about it.

While the quote below is rather unlike stereotypical Ni-dom, Se-inf deification of art:

I hate when art becomes a religion. I feel the opposite. When you start putting a higher value on works of art than people, you’re forfeiting your humanity. There’s a tendency to feel the artist has special privileges, and that anything’s okay if it’s in the service of art. I tried to get into that in Interiors. I always feel the artist is much too revered—it’s not fair and it’s cruel. It’s a nice but fortuitous gift—like a nice voice or being left-handed. That you can create is a kind of nice accident. It happens to have high value in society, but it’s not as noble an attribute as courage. I find funny and silly the pompous kind of self-important talk about the artist who takes risks. Artistic risks are like show-business risks—laughable. Like casting against type, wow, what danger! Risks are where your life is on the line. The people who took risks against the Nazis or some of the Russian poets who stood up against the state—those people are courageous and brave, and that’s really an achievement. To be an artist is also an achievement, but you have to keep it in perspective. I’m not trying to undersell art. I think it’s valuable, but I think it’s overly revered. It is a valuable thing, but no more valuable than being a good schoolteacher, or being a good doctor. The problem is that being creative has glamour. People in the business end of film always say, I want to be a producer, but a creative producer. Or a woman I went to school with who said, Oh yes, I married this guy. He’s a plumber but he’s very creative. It’s very important for people to have that credential. Like if he wasn’t creative, he was less.

Obviously, typing from an interview is far from optimal, but I think it does lend some interesting perspectives beyond reading into his films.
 

Architect

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He's great at execution, think of all those films he churned out. ISTPs are very good at getting work done, unlike INTPs, as AJ Drenth said recently in his book.
 

Pizzabeak

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Has anyone ruled out Entp for him yet?
 

kaelum

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hmm, I think Woody Allen is INTJ. He is one of the few directors who always had full control of the the vision of their movies, and he demanded this for his first movie as a director. For him to have the foresight to ask for that when he wasn't a big artistic commodity yet, I think that's an NT thing.

Also how he handled the whole Mia Farrow/Soon Yi mess (i.e. never falling behind on schedule with the movie he was making at the time, no problems setting emotions aside and getting shit done) is an XNTJ trait. He also had problems transitioning from being a comedy writer to stand-up, so I think he's an INTJ (vs an ENTJ.)

I'm sure NT's can be artists, creative writers, etc and pay attention to the sensory stuff too, I just don't think the "S" stuff would be the primary mover in their work.

I loved Matchpoint, and Bullets over Broadway----but I hate the guy. But that's another post.

EDIT: I dislike Woody Allen the person, not him as an artist nor my theoretical MBTI typing INTJ of him. I like INTJs in general.
 

Philosophyking87

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This guy is great. I'm just starting to get into his works. I found out about him from a quote I remembered but never knew where it came from. "You know nothing of my work!"

Love and Death:

Annie Hall:

He's definitely INTP.

Completely agree.
I just saw Annie Hall on TV the other night.
I immediately loved Woody's comedic quality, as well as the very INTP characters he tends to play. For instance, "Z" from "Antz" is very INTP, as well. Woody Allen did the voice for the character, unsurprisingly. He's often existential, complex, and thinking oriented, among other things.

I don't see how Woody is any other type.

His lifestyle seems very similar to mine, and I can easily relate to his comedy and demeanor.

Agreed.
I instantaneously related to his comedy and demeanor while watching Annie Hall, as well as his character "Z" from "Antz." That character is remarkably INTP.

He's great at execution, think of all those films he churned out. ISTPs are very good at getting work done, unlike INTPs, as AJ Drenth said recently in his book.

True, but he can be an exception to the rule. Not all INTPs are incapable of productivity - even immense productivity. So ISTP is not guaranteed just based on that aspect of his personality.

Has anyone ruled out Entp for him yet?

I doubt it. He's too nerdy.
Not that ENTPs aren't nerdy. But even the nerdy ones have a "coolness" to them. Woody is likely a social introvert. He's more funny than cool.

hmm, I think Woody Allen is INTJ.

Na. He's too IP-ish to be an INTJ.
He comes off like a P, for sure. His demeanor is incredibly IP.

-----------------

Along with the video posted here from Annie Hall, I also like these other clips from the movie. They are spot-on INTP clips.

This scene is so like me it's sick.
When he's pacing around the room trying to figure out the logic behind the JFK assassination... I do this all the time!!!

Think, think, think... to the point of obsession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZNrUAzwU5hE

I was obsessed with the meaning of life as a kid. I ruminated on the point of the cosmos for hours at night. I've also become a kind of pessimist/nihilist at times, where I question the point of everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pa34orcwwA

And with respect to the line scene:

Woody Allen's character is incredibly annoyed by the pretentious guy behind him, so he complains the whole time.

This is all I do in lines... haha
People annoy me.

My wife tells me the following: "All you ever do is complain very negatively about other people." lol all day every day
 

Philosophyking87

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Hmm... I suppose that's a good guess.
He sort of reminds me of an INFP I know.
But he'd have to be one of the extremely intelligent ones.
I used to know a very bright INFP, so maybe!
 

EyeSeeCold

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Please disregard my comments regarding type and Woody Allen made back in '10, not only was I speaking from a (confused) Socionics perspective, but I (rashly) overestimated our similarities. I honestly haven't watched anything by him or with him in it besides Antz, these clips here, and a couple interviews.
 

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I'll take back my thought from years ago, he's not an ISTP but I believe he is an INTP after all. Blind of me not to see, my kid laughed at the idea. Main points


  • Existentialist Philosophical mainstay of INTP's
  • Humor If you study his jokes they're classic INTP 'take it out of context' kinds of jokes. He said he never had trouble coming up with jokes, I think he just took any situation he came across and just put it in a different context
  • Introverted Watching a biography film it turns out he had two mentors who made him as a stand up comedian, and his career. He was terrified in front of audiences but they kept shoving him up there until finally he got it.
  • Working style 'Give me $2M for a film and go away.' He could stand no supervision in his work, it had to be entirely up to him. This point was emphasized many times, and it goes without saying how much INTP's crave independence.
  • Money Making Focused on making movies that wouldn't be especially popular, but would be profitable. He had his gig and liked it, and didn't care about turning it into something bigger with wide appeal.
  • Demeanor Was described as being both a warm person at root, but not a people person. Doesn't give actors a lot (or any) direction.
  • Chit-chat Hates chit chat, only gave Miley Cyrus five minutes of it when they met for an interview
  • Si Runs lots and lots of Si, nostalgic about the city and when he grew up in it
  • Sports He liked to run track when younger which is a prototypically INTP (non team) sport)
  • Music Lifelong love of music. Said (to an ex wife) if he had a choice he would have been a clarinettist, not a movie maker (recalls Einstein who said he would have rather been a musician, and myself who tried to be a musician and would rather have been that then a engineer
  • Work Ethic Turns out he learned to churn out the scripts from attending a writing 'boot camp' when he was younger. I actually did the same thin in music when I was younger, and it also taught me how to work in an interesting parallel. It's just a skill you can learn.
Two things worth mentioning specially.



Ne I think he expresses his Ne through the joke and story ideas. All INTP entertainers (e.g. Larry David) do this, and I did when I was in that industry. You come to depend on it, which leads to Ti.



Ti Doesn't show a lot of this AFAIK, but one comment. In an interview from years ago said you can't say one movie is better than another, you can only do that like in a race where one person finishes before the other. Here is Ti shining through in eschewing the personal judgement. Everybody else in the film is making personal judgements about the worth of one film or another, he won't touch it.



But there is one thing which is he has gone to therapy his whole life. I'm willing to bet that's where his Ti comes out. INTP's use others to flesh out their ideas. We like to talk to work through and test our ideas. I'm willing to bet that's what therapy is for him.


So there you go, I think he's very likely an INTP, joining Larry David, Albert Einstein and Immanuel Kant as the few public figures I'm sure about. Too many bullshit famous personality type sites arbitrarily assign a type to a famous person, without seemingly knowing much about the type or the person.
 

Tannhauser

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All I can think of when I hear Woody allen, is a guy who married his own daughter.
 

Architect

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All I can think of when I hear Woody allen, is a guy who married his own daughter.

Take pity on him, another example of a persecuted nerd (e.g. GamerGate). She is the adopted daughter of Andre Previn and Mia Farrow, I don't think he formally adopted her but did with her other two children, if so technically isn't his daughter (if it was true I think there would be some trouble with it).

My wife followed that case, I think Mia did imagine the whole thing and convince her daughter. She's likely an INFP who I think went on a Fi rant when he had the audacity to become involved with her daughter. Perfect Fi trap he unfortunately fell into, and Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
 
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