Synopsis: Lt. Commander Data creates a child.
In “The Offspring,” there is an interesting character arc, and in archetypal psychological terms, an archetypal change, in the character of Lt. Commander Data from Puer to Senex, when it comes to learning about human behavior.
Data creates a child and lets the child decide the gender for final personality completion. This in itself is remarkable and something that human beings could well follow his example. Lal then looks to Data for guidance in how to interact with the human beings that she is surrounded by. This is the key change for Data. Previously, Data has looked to the human crew, most specifically Captain Jean-Luc Picard, for guidance as to how to be more human. But now, Lal turns to Data for his guidance.
James Hillman, who has been known as the father of archetypal psychology, has defined archetypes as psychic structures and I believe that what he is getting at is that they are patterns from the collective unconscious that have a luminosity around them, because any human can relate to them. He also writes that the archetypal relationship between the Senex, the wise old man, and the Puer, the eternal child, can be used to interpret all the relations of the other archetypes to each other.
Picard, who as the commander of the vessel, holds the energy of the Senex archetype. Like Zeus, he gives the orders aboard the Enterprise. But there is also a fatherly characteristic to the energy of the Senex archetype. Although we learn in the pilot episode that Picard feels uncomfortable around human children, he does play a father figure, or at very least a mentor to Data, in his efforts to become more like his human companions. In this episode however, it is Data who is giving guidance on how to be more human to Lal, and he very definitely is a father figure and guardian for her welfare. Data’s character grows a great deal in this episode and although he states repeatedly that he cannot feel love, when it comes to his relationship to Lal, he does embody it.
Original post created 10 August 2021
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