Ode to Data - An Asexual Analysis of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation
 |
| Image description: Data (portrayed by Brent Spiner) is the popular android character from Star Trek: The Next Generation and the idea of whether or not he could be considered aspec is the subject of today's post. While I can't answer that for certain, I can say that here he is dressed as another character whose potential aspec-ness is the subject of much debate - Sherlock Holmes - and that somehow feels right |
When analyzing asexuality in Star Trek, a character who
often gets mentioned is Data, the fan-favorite android portrayed by Brent
Spiner in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its related media. In many
ways, Data is what I think most people imagine when you say “asexual character”
– analytical, unemotional, and brilliant in everything except human
interactions. But there is much more to Data than just “Starfleet’s android
crewman”; through him, we are asked to ponder many interesting questions about
humanity, sentience, and emotion.
In my previous essay, I discussed the pitfalls that can arise from
having non-human characters who are portrayed as seemingly on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrums. When media chooses to show asexual or aromantic tendencies as endemic
to aliens or futuristic machines, it takes aspec identities out of the real
world and makes them “other.” Worse, when these characters are written using misguided
tropes, we are usually left with problematic representation at best and
sometimes with no representation at all. With a character like Data, we see
many instances of aspec-like qualities and many more instances where those qualities
give way to the usual patterns of using sex or romance to prove humanity or
demonstrate growth. Somewhere amid this grey area, the question exists of whether
we can consider Data an aspec character and what kind of representation
he would be if he were.
Data’s quest for humanity – and what it means to be human
Even from Data’s first moments in the series, we see him longing
to be human, but his character goes far deeper than that wish. As the show
unfolds, we learn that Data was created by scientist Noonian Soong and his wife
Julianna as one of several androids, and was the only one who was able to
continue functioning for one reason or another. Despite his development, he was
eventually deactivated until Starfleet found him and reactivated him, devoid of
memories. Without guidance from his creators, he began the difficult process of his own actualization, which eventually culminates in him joining Starfleet and
gives rise to his constant struggle.
In previous essays, I’ve argued that not all non-human characters desire
to attain humanity, even though most media acts as though they do. But Data does
yearn to be human above all, and in various episodes we see the lengths he undertakes
in order to be seen as such. This quest informs many of Data’s actions
throughout the show and colors the way he relates to the world – and the way
the world relates to him. From the start, we see examples of the prejudice Data
faces, even from the organization that saved him. Although there are many in
Starfleet who see Data as a complex individual worthy of respect, there are
many times when he must fight even for basic rights.
No analysis of Data would be complete without at least mentioning
what is perhaps his best episode, “The Measure of a Man,” in which a scientist
named Maddox demands Data be surrendered to him for dismantling, against Data’s
wishes. Maddox insists Data is not sentient and repeatedly dehumanizes him as a
result, calling him “it”, not looking at him when speaking, and even walking
into Data’s quarters without permission. When Data’s rights are put on trial,
the acting judge, Captain Phillipa Louvois, does likewise, uttering phrases
such as “all this passion over a machine?” and “Data is a toaster” to dismiss
notions of Data being alive. Part of what makes this episode so excellent is
that we see these attitudes eventually begin to erode in both Maddox and
Louvois; in the later episode “Data’s Day,” we even see that Data and Maddox
have established a back and forth correspondence. But as rewarding as this fact
is, this episode is not the only example we see of Data being treated as
inferior. There are various occasions through TNG in which Starfleet paradoxically
both dehumanizes and elevates Data. Other times, aliens the crew encounters
treat him the way they might treat the computer or express dismay about him
performing important tasks. In many ways, these moments lock Data in a no-win
scenario – discriminated against for being “a machine” and yet jeered at for
his efforts to “become more than what he is.”
A good example of this duality comes about when Data discovers his brother Lore, another identical android who was made before Data by the same
creator. When the Enterprise crew finds Lore disassembled, they put him
back together and discover very quickly that, while Lore and Data look
identical, Lore is far more emotionally advanced and also more sinister as a
result. In an ironic twist, as Lore threatens the crew, he voices the belief that
his sadistic nature is because he was made to be more human. For this reason, Lore’s
introduction raises a few questions and interesting paradoxes. Lore represents
that for which Data has been endlessly striving – a more emotionally complex
existence – and yet we see too that this is responsible for making Lore cruel
and amoral.
It’s a shame that Lore’s status as Data’s “evil twin” means that
the things he says are framed as crazy, because he makes some good points about
how humans treat their creations and allows for questions to be raised about
Data’s own search for humanity. When speaking to Lore, Data confesses “I keep
trying to be more human and keep failing,” and thus through both Lore and Data,
we are left to ask – are emotions what makes us human? Lore is emotional but
twisted; Data is, on the surface, emotionless, but he knows right from wrong.
So what exactly do we want from characters who are non-human? And how does all
of this relate back to the themes of an aspec identity? To answer that, I think
we need to look at the tropes Data often faces, chiefly this idea that he is “unemotional.”
 |
| Image description: Data (on the left) and his brother Lore (on the right) share an appearance, a creator, and a similar brain, but they are very different. "Unemotional" Data has a moral compass that Lore lacks, raising the interesting questions of what "having emotions" really means. |
Data vs. tropes
If you’ve explored any of my other posts, you know I often
talk about the tropes used against asexual people in media and how they mirror
aphobia in the real world. In my opinion, these tropes limit the
development of non-sexual or non-romantic characters and act as a barrier
to us truly appreciating their complexity. Ironically
but not surprisingly, Data is no exception to this and I’ve already referenced
him in posts related to the “Childish” trope and the “Sex = Essential to Humanity” trope. These and many other tropes are used against Data in sometimes
paradoxical ways, all of which I believe sadly limit him and pigeonhole his
development, despite his popularity.
Of all the tropes, however, the one most noted in Data’s character
is his aforementioned “unemotional” nature. Something that has always baffled
me about Data is the fact that we see him form meaningful friendships with the
crew, demonstrate sacrifice and bravery, maintain certain personal wishes,
desires, points of pride, etc. and yet he is still seen as unemotional. Additionally,
as I mentioned with Lore, we see examples of how emotional androids can go awry,
and there are even several times when the crew asserts that he likely can
feel, albeit in ways they don’t understand. Despite these things, he is still often
treated as “less than.”
Data’s “lack of emotion” is explained in-universe by saying Soong was
working on an emotion chip for Data that he never got to install. The chip
eventually comes into Data’s possession, but he doesn’t install it until the
events of Star Trek: Generations, the first post-series TNG movie. In my
opinion, the whole emotion chip scenario is unfortunate for a few reasons. One
is the fact that a lot of the “Data experiencing emotion” plot points in Generations
are admittedly kind of hilarious (my favorite is when he tries and subsequently
dislikes a drink, leading to him cheerfully declaring “I hate this! It
is revolting!”). While these moments are clearly being used for comic
relief, that fact makes it harder to see some of the inherent problems with the
emotion chip as a concept and with the plot points that lead to it.
For a start, the moment that precipitates Data’s desire to use the
chip feels at odds with so much of his development in the series. During a
holodeck simulation, Data fails to understand why it’s funny when one of the crew falls into water and when they try to tell him it's all in good fun and urge him
to be spontaneous, his reaction is to push someone else into the water too.
This is met with shock and dismay from the others and Data takes it as a sign
that he needs to install the emotion chip if he hopes to continue his growth. To
me, the fact that the crew would hold this incident against Data feels so
strange, and the idea that Data feels he's failed in spite of all the other
ways he has endeavored to grow is really quite sad. Additionally, there are
several moments throughout the film where having emotions actually causes
problems for Data, such as when he freezes in a moment of fear or when the
subsequent guilt he feels over that fact interferes with his duties. These
moments serve as lessons about integrating emotions into his life, but they
also completely ignore the notion that Data can be at his best without emotions.
Instead, the scene with Data failing to understand the crew’s humor at the beginning
of the film frames that as an impossibility, making it clear the writers believe
Data cannot be complete until he attains emotions.
Oddly enough, however, despite moments where other characters tell
Data he needs to learn to live with emotions, the subsequent movies show that
Data is able to turn the emotion chip off or even choose not to take it with
him at all. This fact not only makes the whole “integrate them into your life”
conversation completely irrelevant and baffling, but it also plays into a
weird “turn your emotions on and off” thing that I have seen lobbied against
other not entirely human characters such as Star Trek: Voyager’s Seven of Nine. The notion that these characters can just flip a switch and control
their emotions – whether true like Data can or just an accusation like in
Seven’s case – makes it seem like the emotions these characters experience are
artificial or not as valuable as those of “normal” people, which begs the
question of why they are so highly emphasized in the first place.
Data and relationships
Although Data plays into so many of the ideas we have about what a
stereotypical emotionless android might look like, there are countless ways in
which he challenges those perceptions too and dares us to redefine our ideas of
friendship, love, and how to express those things. There are countless ways
Data relates to those around him, something which is the focus of some of
Data’s best episodes and finest moments. However, once again we see moments
where these platonic relationships are considered inferior to romance and/or
sex, such as the moment in season seven’s “Inheritance” in which Data’s human mother Julianna Soong misinterprets him stopping at Counselor Troi’s quarters
as him going for a sexual rendezvous. Julianna remarks “your father would be
so pleased; he was worried the sexuality program he designed for you wouldn’t
work” and doesn’t believe Data when he remarks he’s just going to talk to Troi
in her official capacity.
There is a lot to unpack in this one thirty second exchange,
from how cringe-worthy it is that Julianna doesn’t believe Data’s explanation, to the fact that she not only assumes Data has a relationship, but that she
automatically thinks it’s a sexual one. Most of all, I find it weird to think
Soong added sexuality to Data’s program before he added emotion, or that it’s specifically
a “sexuality program” and not, say, a “romance program” or simply an “interpersonal
program,” etc. These facts raise the question of what exactly sexuality means
to Data. We see him have sex with Tasha Yar in “The Naked Now,” a fact which is
referenced in his sentience trial when he refers to Tasha as being “special” to
him, and we see him try a romantic relationship with fellow crewmember Jenna D’Sora
in “In Theory.” However, neither of these relationships can be described as
ideal – in the case of Tasha, both of them are under the effects of a disease;
in the case of Jenna, she ends the relationship specifically because Data is so
unemotional.
 |
| Image description: "Hello, Spot." When Jenna D'Sora breaks up with Data at the end of "In Theory," Data's beloved cat Spot jumps onto his lap for a snuggle - an event which, in my eyes, demonstrates that the love of a pet is the most pure form of love. Data and Spot's sweet relationship is often showcased in the series; Data even writes Spot a poem called "Ode to Spot," which is the inspiration for my post's title. |
In fact, nearly all of Data and Jenna’s relationship is built on extremely faulty logic and feels like it’s her idea exclusively; from Data’s standpoint, it seems merely like he’s going along with the relationship because he believes he should. Although they both try to relate to the other, by and large it feels like Jenna wants to get Data to do things on her terms and the way she expects relationships to go, even when she expresses the desire that Data just be his real self. Data’s response to this is “with regards to romantic relationships, there is no real me.” The entire thing leads to her saying she simply cannot connect with him on an emotional level, which is said to so many ace people, both in and out of romantic relationships.
Not only is the relationship itself strange, but the reactions of those
around Data use the same unfortunate patterns I have grown all too accustomed to
seeing in media. Commander Riker, for instance, tells Data that a romantic
relationship is better than simple friendship and that things can go much
further; when Data asks what that means, Riker’s smirking reply is “that’s what
I hope you’ll find out.” Meanwhile Counselor Troi refers to platonic relationships
simply as “casual relationships” and elevates romance. Additionally, as we see
with the emotion chip, a lot of the plot points surrounding Data’s relationship
with Jenna are comedic, and that makes it even harder to realize how cringe-worthy
most of it really is.
However, in my opinion, the most infamous and cringe-worthy
examples of Data’s relationships isn’t a relationship at all, per se; rather,
it’s the Borg Queen’s seduction of him in the movie First Contact. The
Queen calls Data a contradiction – a machine who longs to be human – and uses
that fact to her advantage. It’s not surprising that the Borg Queen uses Data’s
desire to be human against him and, on its own, that wouldn’t be so bad; if
anything, it could actually be an interesting look at what humanity means to
Data. However, nearly all the scenes involving it are saturated in sexual
themes, starting with when the Borg Queen attaches human skin to Data’s arm and
turns his emotion chip on so he can experience the sensation of pleasure. She
simulates this by blowing on the skin and asking, “was that good for you?” The
dialogue and the way he gasps in response give the scene a weird duality of
grim, sexy, and humorous that shoots from mind-boggling to cringey at warp
speed. Far worse, however, is when she asks Data if he is familiar with “physical
pleasure” – sexuality. Then, just in case I was in danger of forgetting my
least favorite line of all time, Data once again replies that he is “fully functional
and programmed with a wide-variety of pleasuring techniques”, as he said to
Tasha in “The Naked Now.” The Borg Queen then asks how long it has been since
he last used his sexual functionality and when he replies, she kisses him, a
kiss he returns with obvious passion. The kiss is not only strangely out of
place, it’s also just kind of… gross, and in general the Borg Queen’s creepy
seduction of Data – as well as her fascination with Picard – gives the Borg a
weirdly sexual overtone that is unnecessary and extremely unpleasant.
 |
| Image description: The Borg Queen kissing Data in Star Trek: First Contact. Because if I had to suffer through it, so do you. My most sincere apologies. |
However, allow me to pause here briefly and draw attention to the fact that Data says the last time he had sex was with Tasha. The phrase used by Data to describe himself and the way Soong chose to program him all make it clear Data was given the ability to be sexual, and his physical relationship with Tasha shows us he is able to exercise sexuality. But the fact that he has never done so since then and seemingly has not expressed an interest in doing so invites us into the thought experiment of wondering if Data can thus be considered asexual. Unfortunately, given the inconsistent nature of Data’s writing, that is a question that probably can never be answered for certain. Did he really feel something in these relationships, despite his insistence he cannot feel love? Even his liaison with the Borg Queen is hard to fully conceptualize. While it seems like he’s mostly playing her to save the Enterprise, there are clear moments where he expresses interest in what she’s offering him and after she “dies,” he admits that a part of him actually somewhat misses her and says she brought him closer to humanity than ever before.
I find this baffling because, once again, we see Data experience
so many other relationships and moments that I would argue are far more
meaningful than the Borg Queen grafting human skin onto his arm and giving him
goosebumps. Throughout the series, we see that Data longs to make an impact on
the world, wants his life to mean something, and hopes to be a positive
influence on those around him. I believe these things point to humanity far
more than a few assorted sexual/romantic relationships or the installation of
an emotion chip. But the series makes it clear we are supposed to view these
things as secondary, just as amatonormativity tries to force aspec people to do
in the real life. Non-sexual and non-romantic people are constantly expected to
devalue their platonic relationships, dreams, and emotions if those things are
not romantic or sexual – a fact I would argue comes about because that is what other
people are used to seeing and what they understand. In similar ways, Data’s arc
throughout TNG suffers from the same type of mindset, and when he expresses interest
in romance, sex, or marriage (as he does in “Data’s Day”), I can’t help but
feel like I am watching my past self, who once also struggled with these
questions simply because I thought they were what would make me complete. It’s
difficult to tell if Data really feels these things would make him whole, especially
when there are countless other things throughout the series and the movies that
bring him closer to humanity.
Whether it’s the way he strives to teach his android daughter Lal
what it means to grow and make a positive contribution to the world around her in
the episode "The Offspring," the touching relief he feels when he finds his
cat Spot alive during Star Trek: Generations, or even the idea of his own
morality, there are so many moments where Data finds true humanity in ways that
don’t touch on romance at all. Data himself says it best, I think, when he
writes to Maddox and remarks, “If being human is
not simply a matter of being born flesh and blood, if it is instead a way of
thinking, acting, and feeling, then I am hopeful that one day I will discover
my own humanity. Until then, Commander Maddox, I will continue learning,
changing, growing, and trying to become more than what I am.” Just
as Data strives to find what that means, I hope we too will keep striving to
find new ways to express humanity that boldly go beyond what we’ve been taught
to expect from human and non-human characters alike.
Comments
Post a Comment