Too many stories have few worthwhile female characters of any type. Finding INTJ or even NT ones is even less likely. I have just always automatically identified with the male ones. It never mattered that they were male. The commonality of thinking styles, approach to the world, and the way I would just instantly grasp their internal perspective overrode the difference in sex, or any other differences for that matter.
Interesting! Growing up, I definitely ended up internalizing a lot of stereotypically male values, especially those regarding strength/courage/protecting your loved ones in a particular sense, that implied a particular way of dealing with emotions. If I'd had more stereotypically female ESTJ role models, I probably would have been much less of a tomboy.
(Of course, I don't mind this at all, in retrospect. Screw gender norms!)
No, but the question was never explicitly posed. I suspect part of it is not so much that INTJs identify with villains, but that we often identify with INTJ characters, and they are often found among villains and antiheroes. I can't identify with a hero/protagonist just because they are the "good guy". If they are not the kind of good guy I would be in that situation, there is no rapport. With an (INTJ) villain, on the other hand, I might know I wouldn't make the same choices they did, but I might understand much better their motivations, how they see things, even how they feel in the various situations. Sometimes, though, the difference between me and them is mainly in their background and circumstances. As someone (you?) mentioned, they often have faced much more extreme problems and dire choices in their fictional lives than I ever will.
That makes a lot of sense. Recently I discovered Les Mis*, and I relate a LOT to Javert, for similar reasons, i.e. his thought processes, his internal conflict. A general sense of, if my life had gone that direction -- i.e. if I'd been that misguided
-- maybe I would have ended up somewhere similar.
*To be fair, I knew it existed for a long time before then, but I didn't know what it was about.
I feel like most heroic protagonists are ExxJs by virtue of the stuff they do. I may be wrong, but that's the sense I get when I watch shows these days.
I think that's why I don't like the Rebels. They have A Cause, and most stories treat that Cause as the sole most important aspect of their faction. This means that when they win, it's because they had spirit (!) and not for any other reason. They have bad leaders, stupid plans, and they win simply because the author says they do. At the end of Star Wars, for example, they blow up the second Death Star and suddenly, they've won? No they haven't! There's an entire empire left to fight, and even the extended universe can't really explain their sudden and complete victory away.
I actually think that the second paragraph is a better example of SP/NP heroes... Luke's probably an IxFP, and so's Harry Potter, who also fits that trope that you're talking about. It annoys me, too; I tend to feel like heroes in those sorts of stories are far too impulsive, and will oftentimes outright ignore their resident Voice Of Reason (e.g. Hermione, xSTJ par excellence).
Regardless... Whoever those ExxJs are that you have in mind, I must not have ever related to them much, b/c I can't think of any at the moment.
Except for various ExFJ Disney princesses.
No, I actually think an INTJ in literature would (should, really) be more common. We have a lot of interesting inner world diatribes and discussions that, if handled properly, could actually work. We also have big plans that, when properly realized, could work to further the story and provide an decent character arc.
It's true. I was reading a book recently -- "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline -- where the main character was a quintessential INTJ. Always had a plan, always calculating, very cerebral, but also sympathetic and likable. But he's in the minority, and I can't think of many other INTJ heroes (especially not in movies/TV).
Non-feeling introverts get the bad rap of being boring in that particular media, mostly because a lot of our dialog is internal and we're a great deal more reserved and more appropriately, kind of hard to easily relate to due to our rather composed, calculating exterior.
Maybe INTx, but the quintessential badass action (anti)hero is ISTP, right? Like Wolverine. Maybe it's the bolded that's key, here; ISTPs don't give off the calculating, cerebral vibe in quite the same way.