Synopsis: While presenting themselves as upgraders to the Enterprise’s systems, a race of nonbinary unified pairs steals the Enterprise to try to save their planet.
It is both ironic and strangely meaningful from a depth psychological perspective, that in this episode, in which Bynars, a race of non-binary unified pairs – neither male nor female, who are so joined on their planet with technology that when it fails, they die as well, that we see a computer-generated manifestation of Carl (C. G.) Jung’s concept of projection, as a means of describing how individuals on Earth fall in love.
I use the computer-generated designation because this short lesson in the midst of the plot of “11001001” occurs on the holodeck. The Bynars are there to repair and upgrade it, and when First Officer William Riker and then Captain Jean-Luc Picard step into it, they become enthralled by a creation, Minuet.
Both Riker and Picard are aware that Minuet is computer programmed, but their conversation about her describes how projection works in the human psyche; specifically, the idea of how a male will project his inner anima, or idealized feminine characteristics of himself onto a female, that results in falling in love. The conversation between Picard and Riker is as follows:
Picard: She’s so very different from the other images we’ve experienced on the holodeck, isn’t she. She’s . . . she’s more intuitive.
Riker: It’s as though she’d been plugged into my subconscious. She already knows what I want her to say before I’m aware of it myself.
Picard: I suppose it’s an understandable progression. Computers make decisions based on input and we humans give off a multitude of subtle signs that . . . that communicate our emotions.
Riker: It’s uncanny. I could develop feelings for Minuet exactly as I would for any woman.
Picard: Doesn’t love always begin that way – – with the illusion more real than the woman? (Hurley et al., 1988)
If we substitute “subconscious” for “unconscious” and “computers” for our psyche, this is very much how projection works.
Just as some of Jung’s writing has been criticized for being misogynistic, Star Trek: The Next Generation has been critiqued as being very heterocentric. Yet in this episode we learn how individuals fall in love with potential mates framed in a story in which the antagonists are a race of nongendered unified pairs. Early in the episode it is remarked how connected the joined pairs of Bynars are, how empathic they are towards one another. Perhaps we can learn something from the Bynars.
Reference:
Hurley, M. (Writer), Lewin, R. (Writer), & Lynch, P. (Director). (1988, January 30). 11001001 (Season 1, Episode 15) [TV series episode]. In G. Roddenberry (Executive Producer), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.
Original post created 22 May 2021
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