MBTI Type: ENTP

Carl is a naïve idealistic fool who pursues his vision with such aggression, he gets a lot of innocent people killed. He has a grand idea to sail to Skull Island and film scenes on the cheap there, because he thinks it will get butts in the theater seats. He promises people a lot of money he never intends to pay them (at least not now), and is annoyed when his producers harp on about the “details” (like how much this is costing) rather than seeing the big picture. Like a lot of ENPs, he is crazier about his idea than the reality of it, and all the Se-users around him think he’s insane to keep wanting to put them at risk to carry out his grand visions. He ignores and underestimates how dangerous the island is and almost gets trampled trying to film dinosaurs (in anticipation of selling movie tickets; “if you’re not in the shot, they won’t believe it’s real!”). Later, he immediately switches his plan for a movie into a notion of using Kong as a main attraction in New York, not realizing that Kong could wreak havoc, kill people, and wind up dead… because Carl doesn’t learn from any of his mistakes (a blind spot of under-developed inferior Si). He’s already seen the chaos and damage Kong has created on the island, and ignores it, because he’s so excited to turn a profit off him. His TiFe axis is all about charming people and getting them to do what he wants. He’s logical about a lot of things (yes, he can make money this way, and yes, we have to replace our missing starlet, and it doesn’t matter with whom provided she fits the costumes), but amoral in how he chooses to make his decisions. Unlike the emotional feelers around him, he sees Kong as a business proposal rather than a living, breathing creature. He sees Kong’s love for Ann as a way to trap and profit off him, rather than something to respect or be in awe of. And as a true narcissist, when Kong winds up dead because of him, Carl denies his responsibility by saying “Beauty killed the beast.” Unhealthy Fe tends to blame others rather than themselves, and he has it in spades.

Enneagram: 3w4 so/sx

It’s very obvious from the start that Carl comes from the assertive triad—they tend to go “through” people who get in the way of their vision, and that’s what Carl does. He’s nothing if not an opportunist, who puts his movie project above all else, including the safety of his camera crew. When his producers want to pull the plug on his movie, he deceives them all, recruits Ann (by also deceiving her about where they are going and what they are doing and how dangerous it might be), and gets on a ship headed for Skull Island. He wants to be famous and rich, and doesn’t care how he achieves this, provided he gets a few good shots. But when his camera footage gets destroyed, he immediately sets his sights on Kong—using Ann and risking her and Jack’s life just to trap “the beast” so he can bring him to New York and charge a lot of money for admission tickets. Unhealthy 3s just want fame and success, and don’t care who gets hurt in the process; as Jack says of Carl, he always “destroys what he loves the most” because he doesn’t know how to be responsible with it. He is egocentric and self-absorbed; it’s all about him and his project, and the best he can do is offer to donate the proceeds of his success to the “wives and children” of the men he gets killed in the process.