Film Metaphor and INTJ Stress: What I Watch, and When
Thursday April 5, 2018
I sometimes find it helpful to watch TV shows or films while I’m doing desk work. And I love to watch them while I’m resting or recuperating. Film seems to have a powerful emotional effect that can help me rally my mood and attack or confront problems. Here are the patterns and archetype-connections I’ve noticed so far.
Note: This is automatic stuff—I don’t suggest these to myself in a conscious manner. Instead, I find myself “automatically” interested in watching these films at certain times.
During Low Stress
- Documentary Films [Learning about people, processes, systems, and technology; a prompt to engage and reflect using my preferred thinking style]
- How-to (learning new things) [Learning to make an impact; technological development]
- Science-related [Applying the theorist gift to new projects; study of the unknown; making the unknown known]
During Medium Stress
This point seems to mark the start of a deeper or more impactful form of “mood support via metaphor”.
- Detective TV Shows & Movies (Columbo; NCIS; Rockford Files; MacGyver; A Touch of Evil) [Systematically detecting and solving problems]
- War Documentaries / Historical Military (An Ungentlemanly Act; Reilly: Ace of Spies; Historia Civilis) [High-leverage battle with adversarial tasks]
- Improvisational Play (‘60s Kurt Russell Disney Films; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) [Keeping calm and believing in a good outcome despite crazy circumstances; the “just be yourself and have fun” voice which tangles with the “do what you have to do” voice]
During High Stress
- Caper Films (Ocean’s 11,12,13; Taking of Pelham 123) [Long-odds work that has an element of daring with a big accomplishment and payoff]
- Impossible-Odds Detective (Deja Vu; Back to the Future; North by Northwest; Rear Window; The Fugitive) [Leveraging all of one’s skills and detecting gifts]
- Escape Films (The Great Escape; Flight of the Phoenix) [Finding a way out of difficult circumstances]
- James Bond [Clever detection and high-leverage insertion / attack]
- Martial Arts or General Action (Chuck Norris) [Some detection with high-leverage one-man attack]
During Recuperation & Vacation
- Science Fiction (Contact; Jurassic Park; Godzilla films; Close Encounters; Doppelganger; Colossus the Forbin Project) [Exploring the unknown & fanciful / prospective]
- Comedy Films (MST3K) [Living with a sense of fun and exploration of the strange / weird parts of life]
During Deep Recuperation (Sickness, etc.)
- Similar to high stress mode, above
- I also seem to enjoy Let’s Play videos on Youtube, from Stone Soup to FarCry. [Watching self from a meta-perspective, big-picture view on a process]
- Flight videos, like watching pilots on Youtube [Wish to soar and reach emotional/spiritual/physical heights once again]
Points of Leverage:
- If I’m at work, this should be a film I’ve seen already, so I can pay attention or not, and there’s no pressure. I can watch the same film many times this way; it just feels good to have it on in the background.
- I rarely follow the actual plot or story and may have difficulty relating it to someone; the metaphorical mood-connection seems to be the point. So “what do I feel like watching” is the best question to ask rather than forcing something.
- Writing and talking about the metaphorical connection to my current work seems helpful. I can deepen this exploration (detect around the detective film!) if I feel I don’t have useful tools yet.
There is also a bridge to audio-only where I enjoy listening to spy / detective music (Examples: His Name is Napoleon Solo and Peter Gunn), or old time detective radio shows like Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, or 007 audiobooks.
Filed in: Control /110/ | Interests /111/ | Therapeutic Practice /144/ | Productivity /119/ | Ni /42/ | Anxiety /32/
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