"Resistance Is Futile": An Asexual Analysis of the Borg from Star Trek
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| Image description: The Borg Queen (left) with Seven of the Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, image obtained from TrekCore. The Borg are one of the ultimate villains in Star Trek for their brutal and terrifying assimilation of individuals into the hive mind. But does their sci-fi terror have real world parallels? Just in time for Halloween, I explore this very topic and delve deep into the Borg. |
But as terrifying as that is, there is something even more
scary about the Borg collective, and that is the fact that they can be seen as
a stand-in for so many things in the real world. This often changes depending
on the series, movie, or characters in question, but I’ve seen interpretations
of the Borg and their calculating Queen which range from looking at the horror
and lingering trauma of assimilation and its parallels to real-world trauma, to
the pressure to conform to a standard of perfection at the cost of
individuality being analogous to the things society does to young women.
Naturally, I have my own thoughts on what the Borg represent, as well as the parallels we can draw between them and the dark sides of our own culture/society. Over the years, throughout the deepening of my own aspec identity
(plus many rewatches of various Star Trek episodes) I have started to see
the Borg and their quest for a “perfect” collective as having some parallels to
aphobia and the things society does to aspec people. So I thought, as we
approach a spooky holiday, there was no better topic to discuss than these
spooky villains as seen through my own personal lens. Me, trying to escape
talking about Star Trek and aspec issues? There’s no way I can resist.
Resistance, after all, is futile.
“We are the
Borg” – A Brief Overview
Before we dive in, let’s start with an overview of the Borg.
The Borg first appear in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation
(TNG), in which they are introduced as an antagonist unlike any that
Starfleet has ever faced. Whereas most antagonists throughout Star Trek
were, up until this point, motivated by factors like expansion of their empires
or the acquisition of wealth, the Borg are motivated only by acquiring people
and technology to fold into their hive mind. The Borg seek “perfection,” and
when they find something that is worth their efforts, they inform the doomed
vessel or individual(s), “your biological and technological distinctiveness
will be added to our own.” Without mercy or feeling, they calculatingly
overpower anything that resists them and begin the process of assimilation.
While there have been some changes to the Borg over time, they
have always acted as a major threat and serve as the ultimate example that “to boldly
go where no one has gone before” has consequences. During their mere six
episodes across TNG’s seven seasons, the Borg manage to offer Starfleet some of
its most decisive and deadly military defeats, and dramatically alter the lives
of protagonists in ways that linger for decades. The thousands upon thousands
of lives lost to the Borg – whether through death or assimilation – make it so
that the Borg are described by many characters as the ultimate malicious force,
with some citing they are “beyond redemption, beyond reason,” and others going
so far as to state they are “as close to pure evil” as Starfleet has discovered
thus far.
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| Image description: One of the Borg's square-shaped spaceships, also known as a "Borg Cube." Image obtained from TrekCore. |
So established are the Borg as the scourge of the galaxy, that we see them not only return as main antagonists for the TNG film Star Trek: First Contact, but they also play a huge role in Star Trek: Voyager. But for all their “pure evil” tendencies, Star Trek has also given us a surprising number of de-assimilated Borg. One of the most notable examples is, of course, Seven of Nine from the aforementioned Star Trek: Voyager, who is notable chiefly because she was assimilated as a child and thus, for most of her life, being Borg is all she ever knew. If you’re a long-term reader of the blog (or just paid attention to my cover image), I’m sure you expected I’d be talking about Seven sooner or later. Seven is not the only reason why I see aphobia parallels in the Borg, nor are the aphobia parallels of the Borg the reason why she herself seems aspec to me, but these things certainly do play off one another in notable ways.
“I speak for
the Borg” – Seven of Nine
Seven first appears in a two-part episode called “Scorpion,” in which the immense power of a deadly alien species necessitates the unthinkable: an alliance between Voyager and the Borg if either faction hope to survive. During this tenuous stalemate, Voyager’s captain, Kathryn Janeway, asks that the Borg appoint a representative to speak for the Collective; that representative is Seven of Nine. However, it is not Voyager’s objective to free Seven from the Collective and make her a part of their crew. In fact, her liberation happens mostly as a fail-safe. Fearing that the Borg will renege on the deal, the crew devises a plan they implement when Seven does inevitably turn on them and, in so doing, sever her link to the Collective.
Obviously, given the fact that being Borg is all she knows at this point, she is horrified by this forced de-assimilation, something I’ve discussed in previous Seven-centric posts. Because the Borg are such a previously established threat, we are supposed to see Seven’s regained humanity as a blessing. While she does eventually come to embrace her individuality and be thankful for it, there is no denying that in the short term, she is bounced from one decision that wasn’t hers right into another, and it causes many problems for her as she tries to adjust. Not everyone on the crew is as willing to embrace her, and even those that are willing find it difficult to reconcile with her Borg-like manner.
Both the Borg and Voyager give us some interesting things to think about when it comes to the idea of a “collective” group – something which is often a huge source of friction in my life as an aspec person. The Borg represent a stripping away of personal freedom, identity, and freewill; there are no opinions or personality in the Collective, because there are no individuals. And, although Seven is liberated from that system, her early days on Voyager don’t allow her much in terms of freewill either. While some of this is because she’s still learning what her personality even is, there are many instances where her thoughts or feelings are ignored or even belittled by the people around her.
This is something I can relate to as an aspec person, especially within collective groups such as fandom spaces. I was reminded of this phenomenon just recently due to fandom drama, which made me even more acutely aware that groups such as fandoms – especially online – can become like Borg Collectives themselves. There are many times where I as an aspec fan can’t interact with something the way everyone else might, and where my hopes for a safe space are rebuffed because they don’t fit the with conceptualization everyone else has. Thus, fandoms are either like a hive mind, where no one may feel differently or express themselves, or like Voyager’s crew sometimes is to Seven, where her opinions and feelings are still considered “too strange” to be respected by those around her.
Often, Seven’s opinions are largely ignored because other
people have decided what she should think or feel in a certain situation, and perhaps
one of the earliest examples is the episode "The Raven." Taking place about two
months after Seven joins the crew, the episode gives us some background on her life
among the Borg. Although she insists she doesn’t find the Borg frightening, this
is soon proven untrue when she begins to have terrifying flashbacks to her
assimilation, which causes conflicting emotions and questions to plague her. Is
she human or Borg? Can she be both or either, or are her attempts doomed from
the start? What does she feel towards the people that have made up her life
thus far – her parents, the Borg, and now the crew of Voyager?
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| Image description: Seven of Nine as a child, back when she was known as Annika Hansen. Image obtained from Memory Alpha. |
This comes to a head more fully in the later episode “Dark Frontier,” where Voyager plans a dangerous heist to steal Borg technology, a mission which necessitates Seven delving into her parents’ research. She obviously feels the strain of accessing these painful memories and having to come to terms with what she feels was her parents’ irresponsibility leading to the entire family being assimilated. Although I think these seem like valid emotions, yet again we have an example of Seven’s opinions not being respected. Some of the crew see the logs as a treasure trove she should appreciate; others, meanwhile, seem surprised by her irritation with her parents and somewhat shame her for it, rather than attempting to empathize with what it much be like to read the chronicle leading up to the family’s disaster.
Furthermore, the mission leads to Seven encountering the
Borg Queen, who cajoles that Seven has become weak due to embracing her
humanity and wants her to return to the Collective. She offers Seven a deal:
come back into the fold and Voyager will be spared. Seven is deeply
upset by the notion of any harm coming to Voyager, because she sees them
as her new Collective, one for which she is willing to risk her own well-being.
Because of this, she decides to stay aboard a Borg vessel under the guise that she
wishes to rejoin the Borg. Despite the times when the crew disrespects Seven’s
wishes, she saw them as her future, and this moment is one of supreme sacrifice – which becomes somewhat tragic when you
consider how easily a large majority of the crew assume she betrayed them and
that their attempts to help her were a waste of time.
Despite this, however, Janeway sees Seven as a member of the
crew and thus not someone to be left behind. In so doing, Janeway shows us the
exact opposite of the Borg Queen, and the crew, despite moments of inconsistent
characterization later in the series, are willing to likewise risk themselves
for Seven’s well-being. You might even be able to say it’s the difference between
fear and bravery, for the Queen uses every tactic in the book to make Seven
afraid, but through her own courage and the crew’s, she is able to rise above this
horror. But the Borg Queen’s fear tactics go beyond just these moments with
Seven; in fact, they’re spread throughout Star Trek and allow us to dive
even deeper into fear, conformity, and parallels to aphobia in real life.
“The One Who Is
Many” – The Borg Queen and Fear
The Borg Queen herself is a fascinating, complex, disturbing
character who actually first appears in the TNG related movie Star Trek:
First Contact – although the film implies she’s present behind the
scenes of the Borg related TNG episodes. In the movie, the crew of the Enterprise
must stop the Borg’s machinations to assimilate all of Earth, which forces
Captain Jean-Luc Picard to confront his own traumatic past with the Borg.
During the series, in the two-part episode “The Best of Both Worlds,” Picard
himself is captured and assimilated by the Borg, who win a decisive victory
thanks to now having access to Starfleet’s tactical information through Picard. Even
after he is de-assimilated, the horror of the situation remains, as does the
crushing guilt that his knowledge was used to kill or assimilated thousands.
These events, First Contact claims, were put in place by the Borg Queen.
Not much is ever really revealed about the Queen, what she
was before she was Borg, how she became "the Queen", etc. But
when she arrives in First Contact, we see she is at least somewhat more
of an individual than other drones, and considers herself “the one who is
many.” At this point, the Borg have captured the android Data and the Queen begins tempting
him, something I discuss in my Data specific post. This eventually culminates
with the Borg Queen seducing him, asking him if he’s familiar with “physical pleasure,” in this case, sex. The interaction ends with the two passionately
kissing. Later, when Picard comes to liberate Data, she reveals to the captain
that his assimilated form was supposed to be her counterpart. These events
demonstrate an unsettling fascination with both Picard and Data, which in turn
introduce us to an even more unsettling aspect to the Borg – a vaguely sexual nature.
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| Image description: The Borg Queen with Captain Picard. Image from Google. |
This portrayal likely draws on a common media trope to evoke fear and disgust: merging that which is recognizable and even desirable with that which is terrifying and repulsive, as well as adding an element of predatoriness to the Queen. However, it's also a little odd when you consider that the Borg are not sexual, but their Queen seems to be, as her conversations with Data prove. Again, although this is likely just to play with tropes (and the Queen's sexuality may all just be manipulation), it raises some interesting questions. The Queen wields sexuality as a power play, using it to prey on the doubts, fears, and loneliness of individuals. When it comes to Data, she mentions he's a contradiction and tries to sway him through feigning understanding for him; likewise with Picard, trying to say they were "close" and mentioning wanting him to "give himself freely" to the Borg. In this case, resistance - Picard's resistance to her plans - takes on a new, even more disturbing layer. If the Borg can teach us something about the horrors of conformity and not being allowed to have say in our own lives, the fact that there is an element of sexual fear attached to the Queen deepens this.
The sexual horror is not the only way the Borg Queen is used
for fear, however. For instance, when it comes to the Queen’s interactions with
Seven of Nine, the fear does not come from anything predatory; rather, it comes
from making Seven doubt her own perceptions of reality and herself - something society does to aspec people all the time. In “Dark
Frontier,” the Queen calls Seven “unique,” but also twists every lesson she’s
learned on Voyager to apply them back to her Borg identity. She tries to
convince Seven that home is the Borg Collective and that Seven is not an individual, but rather her de-assimilation was
merely the crew “remaking her in their own image.” Additionally, she tries to
plant the thought in Seven’s mind that her liberation from the Collective was
the Queen’s intention all along, which serves as a good example of how she uses
fear and doubt to try and bend Seven to her will.
But it’s also interesting that the Queen’s rhetoric has
deliberate parallels to things Seven has been told by the crew of Voyager.
Earlier in the episode, Janeway worries she’s pushing Seven too hard in the
quest to become human, a sentiment the Queen mirrors when trying to get Seven
back. She also insists to Seven that being human is more compliant than being
Borg, which is noteworthy when you consider how often the crew tries to
influence her to their will. In her interactions with Seven, Data, and Picard,
we see that the Queen is the ultimate gaslighting manipulator, but from my
perspective, “Dark Frontier” forces us to acknowledge the fact that humans can
employ the same manipulative tactics. Just like the events of First Contact,
this adds an extra horrifyingly human layer to the Collective, and forces us to
consider that the desire to assimilate everyone until they’re the same is
present in the real world, not just in science fiction.
Another element of the Borg Queen is the fear she creates of
being vulnerable. She does this physically with Data in First Contact when
she gives him human skin, which has the capacity for both pleasure and pain,
and mentally with Seven when she tells her that she has become weaker as an
individual. These fears are very visceral and realistic despite their sci-fi
setting, as many of us fear pain and helplessness. But in a more social sense, we
are often taught to fear isolation too. Something I mentioned briefly in my last post is society’s tendency to weaponize loneliness, telling us that ending up alone is a fearsome thing that should be avoided at all costs. But the Borg
Queen takes this concept to a whole new level by actually using loneliness as a
torture tactic against her drones, selectively severing their link to the
Collective and allowing them to experience fear as they’re alone for the first
time since they became Borg.
The fear of being alone is a valid and understandable fear
that many people can relate to, and when it’s inflicted on drones by the Queen,
it’s the societal fear of loneliness writ large. In the case of the Borg, it’s
obviously extreme, but I think
we’ve all experienced some form of being manipulated by the fear of ending up
alone or ostracized by our peers/society at large. Just like the Queen seeks
to make her drones comply, there are many forces in the world that want us to
comply, and use the threat of loneliness to get what they want. When you look at
it from this angle, things like amatonormativity have an almost Borg feel. It
seems to say, “comply or suffer the consequences.”
But just like the Borg Queen demonstrates the power of this
fear, the characters she wields it against can show us the power of resistance.
Some of the most powerful scenes in Star Trek include moments like when
Data proves he’s deceived the Queen, or when
Seven assures the Queen she will resist her efforts to break her. Personally, I think the Borg Queen is one of the most satisfying Star Trek
villains to see thwarted. We know individual Borg could theoretically be saved,
but the Queen represents the darkest elements of both science fiction and our
own lives; thus, seeing characters resist and overcome her feels like a
victory against the traditional fears that society lays on us. If they can resist
the Queen, we too can resist the things that want us to comply.
“I Am Alone,
But I Will Adapt” – The Struggle Against Isolation
Because Star Trek: Voyager is the series in which we
chiefly see the concept of Borg drones separated from the Collective trying to
lead normal lives, it’s also the series that most chiefly explores the concepts
of being alone. For former drones especially, the notion of suddenly being cut
off from the hive mind and having to exist as an individual is a terrifying
adjustment at first. Seven exemplifies this in the episode “One,” in which she
is forced to operate the ship alone when the rest of the crew is in stasis
while passing through a dangerous region of space. The above quote is something
she tells herself when being truly alone for the first time in her life begins wearing
her down, a sort of mantra she uses to try and overcome the situation. In
Seven’s case, learning both to be comfortable with herself, but also
comfortable with the crew while still maintaining her individuality, is a huge
part of her journey.
In another episode, “Survival Instinct,” Seven encounters
three former Borg with whom she was stranded on a planet eight years prior,
during which time they had all lost their link to the Collective and thus
temporarily regained individuality. When she reencounters the trio, they too
have been de-assimilated; however, they’re still mentally connected, not to the
hive mind, but to one another. They long to get rid of this link so they can
become true individuals, which is interesting to me for many reasons. As
someone who has always longed to have people “understand” me, it’s fascinating
to see three people who share every experience and thought, and to realize how terrible
that type of complete understanding is. The fact that they share everything makes
them feel as if they have no identity; in fact, they describe themselves as
being nothing – which is exactly how canon asexual character Todd Chavez from BoJack
Horseman described himself before realizing his identity. Although not the
case here, the parallels fascinate me.
So often in our society, the notion of being alone is
treated as a punishment, a thing to be wary of. But in this trio of former
drones, we see people who crave being alone as part of what will make them
individuals, so much that they don’t fear dying alone, which is usually the
ultimate thing society teaches us to fear. Although none of us in real life can
relate to the feeling of having someone constantly with us like these former
drones experience, I think the lessons here are valid and important
nevertheless. As the episode goes on – spoiler alert – it’s revealed
that the trio is linked together because Seven linked them herself back on the
planet where they were stranded. Why did she do this? Because as her own
individuality began to reassert itself, she began to fear dying alone as the
other drones, now individuals, tried to escape the planet, and thus the
Collective, without her.
Both “One” and “Survival Instinct” end with what I feel is a
satisfying message – that we are alone in ourselves as individuals, but that we
don’t have to be lonely in that individuality. In “One,” Seven gladly rejoins
the crew when they wake up, drawing comfort from their presence, while in
“Survival Instinct,” she is comforted by her young friend Naomi Wildman. I also
feel these episodes are important for Seven’s growth as a character. She goes
from a drone who feared individuality and living/dying alone, to an individual
who embraces her uniqueness. She is able to face and even conquer the fear of
solitude that plagues her. Any long-time reader of the blog knows I take exception
with how Seven is treated in future episode or even in shows like Star Trek: Picard, but in these episodes and by these metrics, I think her development
is spectacular. Her ability to be stronger than fear – the entire thing that the
Borg are based on – makes her the perfect example that resistance is not, in
fact, futile.
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| Image description: The three de-assimilated Borg in "Survival Instinct," once they are freed from their link. These three individuals, Seven of Nine, and other ex-Borg throughout Star Trek are proof that freedom from fear and control is possible. Image obtained from Memory Alpha. |
I think one of the reasons why the Borg are such a good antagonist – beyond just their traditionally terrifying attributes – is that they represent a clear moral dilemma. Earlier, I referenced the Starfleet belief that the Borg are “as close to pure evil” as anything they’ve encountered, and when you consider what they do to people, that’s an understandable conclusion. However, every Borg, while a merciless and cold killer, is also a victim. To kill a Borg drone is to save innocent lives, without a doubt; but to kill a Borg drone is to also kill someone who was once an innocent life that wasn’t saved. Every Borg drone could be saved if given the chance, which makes the reality of Borg assimilation even more tragic.
But I think this is what makes instances of de-assimilated
Borg drones taking back their lives and individuality so compelling and
powerful. Although this isn’t always done perfectly (and I know I’ll be talking
about other instances of aphobia or unfortunate tropes used against these characters in future),
their existence gives us a chance to analyze things from a new lens. From my
perspective, I feel the Borg’s desire to make everyone the same is recognizable
in my own life and thus the people who escape their clutches, like Seven of
Nine escapes from Borg Queen and from her own struggles with being alone, are
inspirational. Because I see so many aspec parallels in her (and others like
her) and so many aphobic parallels in the Borg, it makes it all the more poignant
to witness those moments of triumph. Through the ex-Borg, it’s possible for me
to imagine that someday I too can boldly say, “I will not comply.”
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