Margaret’s talk is called, “‘The Perfect Mate’: The Embodiment of Anima and Animus Projection in Star Trek: The Next Generation“
Using Jungian ideas to explore the various Star Trek films and television series, a futuristic interpretation of the American myth, is a way to make Jung’s teachings more accessible to the world at large. This paper looks at how the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Perfect Mate” — in which the beautiful female alien Kamala comes aboard the Enterprise commanded by Captain Jean Luc Picard — elucidates Jung’s concept of anima and animus projection in popular culture.
Highlighting the filmmaker’s use of mirrors throughout the episode to frame the interaction of Kamala and Picard, this paper will propose that this reflects Jung’s theory of the projection of the anima and animus onto our own perfect mate. I will discuss both Jung’s writings, some of which are problematic in his portrayal of “the feminine,” as well as work by Jungian and post-Jungian scholars in attempts to soften or reframe his ideas to address this. I will also touch on the patriarchal nature of the underlying narrative of the utopian future represented by Star Trek and how it projects the androcentricity of the American culture into the future.
About Margaret
Margaret (Maggie) Mendenhall, JD, PhD, currently resides in Long Beach, California, and is a graduate of Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Mythological Studies program. Her dissertation examined the rise of female rescue characters in German-language opera from the perspective of Eurydice. She is also currently a student in Pacifica’s Depth Psychology Program, Specializing in Jungian and Archetypal Studies. Margaret has presented papers on Star Trek-related topics at various conferences, including the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Mythgard Institute, and the American Academy of Religion, Western Regional Conference. As an edutainer, she has written, performed and produced two myth-based one-woman shows: Dancing to the Edge of a Cliff: A Mythical Journey Toward Wholeness and Soul Trek: My Sci-Fi Journey Toward Wholeness, and has just begun research on a potential one-woman show based on the life of Emma Jung. Margaret produced and hosted the public access television series Myth Is All Around Us and has been published in legal journals and Pacifica’s Mythological Studies Journal (online) and Between Literary Review.