Synopsis: The Enterprise is tasked with providing transportation for a young female alien back to her homeworld in order to bring peace to it.
In my last post, I mentioned the concept of anima or animus projection onto another individual as the way in which individuals fall in love. In “The Dauphin” this is manifested physically in how Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher projects his anima onto Salia, the young female that the Enterprise is bringing to Daled IV to bring peace to her people.
I have noted that in Carl (C. G.) Jung’s theories in depth psychology, anima is the idealized internal female within someone who identifies as male, and animus, is the idealized internal masculine within someone who identifies as female. And although these definitions are hetero-normal, the basic concept is that when we are attracted to someone romantically, this attraction is due to us projecting our idealized inner other onto them.
In this episode, Crusher and Salia accidentally cross paths in a corridor and lock eyes. Afterward, he states that “the girl is perfect” (Rubinstein et al., 1989), and this expresses exactly what it does feel like when an individual projects his anima onto a potential mate. The one on whom the projection is aimed does in fact seem perfect to the one who is doing the projection. How could it be any other way, as they are not clearly seeing the one who is receiving the projection, they are instead seeing their ideal mate in physical form. However, later in the episode Crusher learns that Salia is really a shapeshifting alien that only took human form in order to be comfortable on the Enterprise. And while the let down from seeming perfect to being something else is not always this severe, the projection doesn’t last, and for better or worse, given the time the person who received the projection will eventually be seen for whom she, he, or they are.
Reference:
Rubinstein, S. (Writer), Mlodinow, L. (Writer), & Bowman, R. (Director). (1989, February 18). The dauphin (Season 2, Episode 10) [TV series episode]. In G. Roddenberry (Executive Producer), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.
Original post created 1 July 2021
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