Character Analysis: Radio Kennedy

Inspired by a true story, Radio Kennedy known as Cuba Gooding Jr. played in a sports illustrated movie by Gary Smith called “Radio”. James “Radio” Kennedy is a mentally disabled local man that became the team mascot and cheerleader during the first season with the football team (Rozen, 2003). Radio often wondered around the town of Anderson, South Carolina with a shopping cart filled with treasures. He walked around the High School of Hanna and watched the sport events, mainly football. He did not talk to strangers, however after a few football players lock him in the equipment room and frightened him, he met Coach Jones. Radio was quickly involved with the team and shared a bond was the coach, being popular and well-known around the school

When he talks, he tends to not put words in the correct order or leave out words in his phases. He does not know how to read and write, but enjoys every beat on his portable radio as he singing and dancing. His mental disability did not stop the show (Rozen, 2003).

With the background information of the character within the movie, examining the character to the personality theory of Carl Jung will give a better understanding of the individual at hand. With the help of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality assessment, the importance and description of the chosen character will define the different behaviors that correlate to the illness.

Jung’s personality theory is known as analytic theory. He expanded his knowledge on unconscious to apply hidden thoughts and ideas of an individual. He believed that every mind had conscious and unconscious levels (Cloninger, 2013). Jung created eight personality types from two attitudes: Introversion and Extroversion. Introversion is known as being aware of one’s inner world, while extroversion is surrounding one’s self with the environment becoming expressive. There are four functions within the two attitudes: Feelings (a person understanding the value of a conscious activity), Thinking (understanding the meaning of things), Sensation (a person that know something exist), and Intuition (knowing about something with unconscious

As Jung compared one’s conscious and unconscious mindset and attitude level, Radio’s mindset changed over time as he connected with nice people to help him build his basic skills, along with his loving mother that was always worried about him. Radio took it hard after his father passed away, but with the help of his mother, coach, and friends he continues to uplift others; especially during Christmas as he pushed his shopping cart around town delivering gifts (Rozen, 2003). Radio played a meaningful and important part in the