Does Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely?
The crew of the Enterprise explores power and identity
Pink clouds in extragalaxial space, papier-mache landscapes and fisticuffs — this episode from the original series of Star Trek has it all! More intriguingly, however, it examines our relationship with power.
What happens in this episode? Well, I need to go into a little more detail than I have in previous posts. (Stay with me, it’s worth it.) The Enterprise is about to leave our galaxy and boldly go where (almost) none have gone before, when the crew detect a ship’s recorder from the Valiant, which went missing two centuries ago. This device reveals that the Valiant’s crew were desperately seeking information about extra-sensory perception prior to destroying their own ship. Kirk presses on; the Enterprise leaves the galaxy and enters the roiling pink clouds of a magnetic storm; the ship’s warp drives are damaged, and Kirk orders a retreat back to galactic space. Nine crew members are killed, and two fall unconscious — the ship’s helmsman, Gary Mitchell, and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, the ship’s psychiatrist.
Upon awakening, Mitchell’s eyes gleam silver and he exhibits paranormal powers which grow in strength. Kirk is at first filled with compassion for his long-time friend, but later grows alarmed as Mitchell’s demeanour changes, becoming increasingly haughty and hostile. Matters deteriorate to the point that Kirk considers marooning Mitchell on an uninhabited planet with an automated mining operation. Unfortunately, Mitchell’s powers are so great by this time that this proves challenging; he can read the minds of those around him, and cause objects to disappear.
Mitchell, Kirk, Dehner and others are beamed down to the planet’s surface. Dehner’s eyes also turn silver and she also gains supernatural powers. Failing to contain Mitchell, Kirk orders the rest of the crew back aboard the Enterprise, and attempts to kill Mitchell. He cannot do this unaided, and while Mitchell is creating an oasis to reside in, appeals Dehner’s humanity for assistance.
Mitchell turns on Dehner and kills her using his mental powers. This takes some effort, and while his strength is regenerating, Kirk uses a phasor to trigger and rockfall, killing Mitchell. Back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk orders that both their service records note that they died in performance of duty, saying that they did not ask for what happens to them.
I explained this episode’s plot in more detail than in previous posts because I wanted you to see the three models of power the episode portrays:
- Kirk, the ship’s captain, who is heroic and decisive; he tends to compassion, but is not omnipotent. Kirk commands others, but is not afraid to do what needs doing in the service of his post. Whether it’s engaging a demigod in fisticuffs or mourning the loss of his friend, Kirk is a hero, through and through.
- Mitchell develops god-like powers which strip him of his humanity. A transgressing deity, he demonstrates Lord Acton’s famous saying, that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He refers to his crew mates in ever more derogatory terms, and he wonders what type of world he could “use”.
- Dehner also develops supernatural powers, but more slowly than Mitchell. She retains empathy and compassion. She is able to act for the good of others, even at peril to herself. Ultimately, the giving nurturer, she sacrifices her life in order that Kirk and the Enterprise may survive.
Psychologists suggest that identity is forged through three tasks: probing your potential, choosing your purpose in life, and exploring opportunities to exercise that potential and purpose.
Kirk has a very firm sense of identity. He loves the Enterprise and is dedicated to its well-being. In this episode, however, his potential to serve that purpose is stymied by the power differential between him and Mitchell.
Mitchell’s identity shifts as this episode progresses. Starting as a joking womaniser, he seems enthralled by his growing powers, and wonders at what he may be able to do with them. His purpose as a nascent god is unformed; he delights in demonstrating his capabilities, but shows no moral development alongside them.
Dehner is an interesting character. At the start of the episode, she seems the epitome of cool: beautiful, clever, detached; however, early on she demonstrates her compassionate side, daring to order the powerful Mitchell to stop electrocuting Spock and Kirk. Her purpose in life is clear: she is a psychiatrist, interested in helping people. Ultimately, that is more important to her than her own life.
I wonder whether any of these archetypes resonate with you? Do they help you reflect on where you’re at, during your lifelong relationship with your own identity?
I found this episode helpful in reflecting on my current context. Some years ago I went through a time of deep depression and anxiety. I had been placed in an impossible position, expected to perform at superhuman levels but without Mitchell’s divine potential. Recently, I realised I’ve been overcompensating, staying well within my comfort zone and avoiding situations which could trigger another crisis. I stopped probing my potential, and I left many opportunities unexplored.
However, my previous context — the one which almost destroyed me — had one advantage: it gave my life an overarching narrative, a glorious purpose which I had invested in wholly.
I miss that sense of purpose very much. In fact, it would not be exaggerating to say that I ache for it. I feel its absence the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb. I found myself searching for it … but in a limited sense, constrained by my fear of the darkness which has overwhelmed me in the past.
Last week, I had something of a breakthrough. I realised that I don’t need to generate a purpose, or try to force one into existence around me. Instead, I need to be like a firefighter: fit and ready to go at a moment’s notice when required. My purpose right now, while waiting for the next narrative to emerge, is to invest in my health and wellbeing so that when the universe knocks, I’ll be ready and able to answer.
This is a simple and self-evident truth, and perhaps that’s why it sucker-punched me. The lens flipped: instead of peering outward, on what might be, I need to focus inward, at what is and what will be.
I have one more takeaway from this episode. My history, and my gender, set me up to be like Dehner. Her self-sacrifice is a familiar siren song which has lured me onto the rocks in the past. It calls to me, seductively wrapping tendrils of oblation around the ache of my lost purpose.
Fuck that. I am not required to suicide on the alter of someone else’s ego, someone else’s need.
I will never be a transgressing deity, like Mitchell. I know that much about myself. I won’t ever explore power for power’s sake.
However — and if you asked me yesterday, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be saying this! — I can aspire to be a little more like Kirk. No, with any luck, I’ll never become a turtle-necked pugilist, but perhaps I can own my heroic status.
This week, I’ll be leaving the cocooning galaxy of my own making, but not on an outward quest in service of others; instead, on a surprisingly inbound crusade of self-discipline and exploration.
Where will your journey take you this week?
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