The Trickster archetype is one of deception and moral ambiguity. We’re never quite sure of whose side the Trickster is on (if they’re on any side at all).

The character that embodies this archetype in Brazil is Jill — the real Jill, not the dream Jill. Is she a terrorist? Can she be trusted? Neither Sam nor the audience are really sure.

For ENTPs, the Trickster is Introverted Feeling (Fi), the function of personal values. As a Hero, Fi is humanitarian and universal, but as a Trickster, it’s much harder to trust.

Jill, at the end of the day, cares about people as human beings, symbolising Fi. She is in direct contrast to the Puella, Sam’s mother, who cares more about social status (Fe). Note that, in an Oedipal moment, Sam actually dreams that his mother looks so young that she appears to be Jill — the two characters are two sides of the same coin.

In the final part: Extraverted Sensation (Se) as Demonic Personality…

The Senex or Witch archetype is the shadow to our Good Parent — the figure that directly opposes the supportive role that the Good Parent can play. It is the critical, authoritarian parent rather than the mentor and aid.

If Tuttle is the Good Parent in Brazil, being a supportive father-figure to Sam, then the critical, authoritarian father-figure is Mr. Helpman; whereas Tuttle represents improvisation and guiding personal principles (Introverted Thinking — Ti), Helpman personifies the heartless, cold and arbitrary bureaucratic system itself (Extraverted Thinking — Te).

The Senex or Witch undermines our attempts to grow. To use Joseph Campbell’s imagery, it’s the dragon we need to slay in order discover our true potential. For ENTPs, Te is their dragon.

Next: Trickster as Introverted Feeling…

Now that we’ve looked at Sam as the Ne Hero and Tuttle as the Ti Good Parent, it’s time to examine the case of the Puer/Puella (Eternal Child) as Extraverted Feeling (Fe).

The Eternal Child is a Peter Pan-like figure: on the one hand, he or she represents youthful vitality, but on the other hand, this archetype also symbolises an inability to grow or mature as a person.

This figure is incredibly recognisable in Brazil once you get past the role-inversion Terry Gilliam has introduced for comedic effect.

Fe is the function of social roles, expectations, obligations, appearance and standing — the function of diplomacy. I think it’s fair to say that Sam’s mother fits the bill here nicely.

Furthermore, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that this character also plays the role of Eternal Child, despite being Sam’s mother. How fitting, then, that she’s obsessed with plastic surgery, going to ludicrous lengths to appear ever younger.

To be honest, I can’t get over how perfectly we see archetype, function and character aligned in this case — it’s the sort of thing that gives Brazil its timeless, mythic quality. (I should add that it’s also quite fitting that Tuttle, the “Supernatural Aid”, appears and disappears seemingly out of the ether.)

Next: Anima/Animus (Si)

In the last post we looked at Sam Lowry as the embodiment of Heroic Extraverted iNtuition; in this post, we’ll move onto the Good Parent as Introverted Thinking (Ti).

The Good Parent is a supportive, mentoring role, usually sharing the same sex as the Hero/Heroine. Here we’re looking for the “Obi-Wan” of Brazil. To use Joseph Campbell’s parlance, the Good Parent is the “Supernatural Aid” who gives the Hero the guidance he needs to succeed in his quest.

In this case, the Good Parent is clearly Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro).

Tuttle is a renegade, subverting the system by playing by his own rules. He acts based on his own guiding principles quite apart from any officially-sanctioned rules or laws, in other words. As an INTP friend put it recently, there’s no point in following the rules “if the rules are stupid”.

More directly, as a rogue “heating engineer”, Tuttle is an improviser — he understands heating systems inside and out and can easily create solutions based on his knowledge of the underlying organising principles.

In short, Tuttle certainly encapsulates the flavour of Ti. Once again, Beebe’s theory seems to hold.

Next time: The Eternal Child (Fe)…