Mulan: ISTP [Disney’s Mulan]

Mulan: ISTP [Disney’s Mulan]

Dominant Introverted Thinking (Ti): Mulan is fiercely independent and inventive. She constructs more efficient ways to do all of her chores, finds ways to defeat obstacles during training, finds a way to beat the Huns on the mountain, and devises a way to finally defeat Shan Yu. Ti is a very hands-on function. When dominant, the ITP only enjoys things that relate their Ti. For Mulan this is when she gets technical and devises new strategies. She isn’t a planner nor works step-by-step (Te). She prefers to be more open ended in her logic. 

Mulan lights up when involved in any task that demands her Ti, but as soon as it doesn’t you can’t force her to put in the same amount of effort. Becoming the perfect bride is doesn’t appeal to her Ti, so we see her try to slide by and her disinterest is incredibly clear. 

Secondary Extraverted Sensation (Se): Mulan is incredibly present oriented. She doesn’t care for the past, learning from old experiences or traditions, nor is she looking towards the future. She doesn’t have some goal out in the future. Her father is being sent out to war and will most likely die. She immediately adapts to that current situation without thinking of the long term consequences. She knows it will stop her father from going to war, consequences be damned. 

Her ability to be in the moment and so observant of her external environment is what makes her such a great soldier. She notices details that others don’t in her environment and when paired with her Ti logic, she becomes the best strategist among all of the other soldiers. 

Tertiary Introverted iNtuition (Ni): Ni being inward facing pairs with Ti. We see this with Mulan when she analyzes her own Ti. It leads her to reflect on her own personal meaning, her identity. This is how we get the song “Reflection.” She hasn’t found a craft or occupation to hone her Ti and it goes beyond her feeling of displacement from society. She doesn’t know who she is, because she isn’t allowed to engage in her dominant function. Ni helps her question this inability to be herself in the abstract. She needs to gather more Se experiences in order to answer the questions about herself, which she does engage in when she goes off to war. 

Inferior Extraverted Feeling (Fe): Mulan is oblivious to the social decorum around her. She doesn’t understand the female role she is supposed to play in her society. She can’t even fake it in order to adapt and survive within the role society has pushed on her. But she also doesn’t have an active interest in changing these social conditions. It isn’t a mode of judgment she is comfortable working with. Acknowledging the social current isn’t her style. 

She often ignores any social consequences to her actions. She doesn’t go out to war considering what this means for her role as a daughter and a woman or what it means for her father what his role in society is. She doesn’t consider the worry and the family disruption she causes in leaving her home. 

We see her lack of Fe understanding when she is around the men as well. Instead of blending in when she tries to be a Man, she still doesn’t understand the role of being a Man. She doesn’t understand any of their social rituals, nor does she really try. She sticks to isolating herself, because when she tries to join she is always very close to being caught.

With these changes, other things have had to be edited.

Disney Female MBTI Grapic Link

Disney Female MBTI Chart Link