According to Picard, “human” is the measure of all things in the universe. A scene at the film’s beginning reveals how important humanist ideals are to Picard. In a dream sequence, Picard is once again Locutus, the cybernetic organism he was when assimilated into the Borg collective. As Locutus, Picard’s humanity was undermined: he was connected to the hive mind of the Borg, and all individuality was erased. Picard equates his loss of individuality with the loss of humanity: the ultimate tragedy a human being could experience.
Picard realizes what is at stake: the death of humankind. He cannot allow humanity to become a byword. For Picard, humanity is too essential and too important, to be destroyed.
Picard’s assimilation, however, was not only dehumanizing, it was also emasculating. Under the power of the Borg Queen, Picard’s power/masculinity was deactivated. When Picard encounters the Borg Queen at the end of the film, we discover that she oversaw his prior assimilation. As Locutus, Picard not only lost his individuality, but his place in the power structure of the Federation; Picard was made subservient.
For Picard, assimilation means an inversion: turning reality, as it “should” be, inside out. Katherine Hayles suggests that, “the ultimate horror for the individual is to remain trapped “inside” a world constructed by another being for the other’s own profit” (162). For Picard, when what is outside (the essential realities of Earth, power, the phallus, individuality, free will) is trapped inside, ultimate horror truly does manifest. The dominant power structure of the Borg Queen inverts all that is hu/man
We can interpret Picard’s stubborn refusal to subvert the Borg by destroying the Enterprise, as the assertion of not only his humanity, but of his masculinity as well. When Lily tells Picard to “just blow up the damn ship!” Picard declares:
They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again! The line must be drawn HERE! This far, no farther!
For Picard, resistance must be full and complete: he must be a full and complete hu/man, just as humanity must remain full and complete in the universe that he serves and protects.
Return To Science Fiction As Metaphor
