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

and town. Radio had the opportunity to go to all the football games and practices and watch on the sidelines with the coach (Rozen, 2003).
Radio, as a mentally disabled man, love to make everyone happy and treated them with the upmost respect.

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

understanding of memory) that gives an identify of an individual’s personality. These factors are measured on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator personality assessment (Cloninger, 2013).
In the beginning of the movie, Radio showed introverted behaviors because he was shy and never talked to strangers. He enjoyed wondering through town, pushing his shopping cart, enjoying himself on an everyday basis. As he began to connect with the coach and the football team, his ego enhanced his extroverted traits to become an outgoing, expressive person. He was given the opportunity to gain friends and talk more, building his self-esteem and changing his selfishness trait. Commonly, Radio showed different traits such as extroverted feelings and introverted sensing. Extroverted feeling individuals enjoy helping out, being useful and encouraging (Cohen, Ornoy, & Keren, 2013). Radio was great at helping out and cheering on the football team to win games to reach the championship. Introverted sensing is known as the tendencies to have good memories for details (Cohen, Ornoy, & Keren, 2013). Although, Radio forgot things from time to time, he could recall things that interest him such as the name of his favorite song on the radio, people name’s, and the memories with his friends. Often times, a person is not defined by only one of the personality types of the theory.
Common ethical issues within the MBTI assessment are more likely to occur because Radio couldn’t read or write. Normally, results can affect the way a person interrupt the information and understanding the concept of the material. On the other hand, responding in a dishonest manner to adjust to the positive side of the factor could affect the content of the results (Cohen, Ornoy, & Keren, 2013). For Radio to complete the MBTI personality test, the test would have to be read and broken down for the best of his understanding. Being that he cannot read, write, or comprehend difficult task alone, Radio will always need someone to help him out along the way (Lorona & Miller-Perrin, 2016).
Carl Jung’s personality theory gave a better understanding of the traits that Radio played in the movie.

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

movie.

Cloninger, S. (2013). Theories of personality: Understanding persons. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Cohen, Y., Ornoy, H., & Keren, B. (2013). MBTI personality types of project managers and their success: A field survey. Project Management Journal, 44(3), 78-87. doi: 10.1002/pmj.21338.
Lorona, R. T., & Miller-Perrin, C. (2016). Parent and Child Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Mental Illness: A Pilot Study. Psi Chi Journal Of Psychological Research, 21(3), 152-161.
Rozen, L. (2003). Radio: Ed Harris, Cuba Gooding Jr. People Weekly, (18).