Editing Star Trek: First Contact (section)

==Themes==
Frakes believes that the main themes of ''First Contact''—and ''Star Trek'' as a whole—are loyalty, friendship, honesty, and mutual respect. This is evident in the film when Picard chooses to rescue Data rather than evacuate the ship with the rest of the crew.{{sfn|Frakes|2005}} The film makes an explicit comparison between Picard's hatred of the Borg and refusal to destroy the ''Enterprise'' and that of [[Captain Ahab]] in [[Herman Melville]]'s novel ''[[Moby-Dick]]''. The moment marks a turning point in the film as Picard changes his mind, symbolized by his putting down his phaser.{{sfn|Frakes|2005}} A similar ''Moby-Dick'' reference was made in ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' and although Braga and Moore did not want to repeat it, they decided it worked so well they could not leave it out.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}}

In ''First Contact'', the individually inscrutable and faceless Borg fulfil the role of the similarly unreadable whale in Melville's work. Picard, like Ahab, has been hurt by his nemesis, and author Elizabeth Hinds said it makes sense that Picard should "opt for the perverse alternative of remaining on board ship to fight" the Borg rather than take the only sensible option left to destroy the ship.<ref name="Hinds-1997">{{cite journal |author=Hinds |first=Elizabeth Jane Wall |year=1997 |title=The Wrath of Ahab; or, Herman Melville meets Gene Roddenberry |url=http://www.br.vccs.edu/library/guides/wrath%20of%20ahab.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100716154329/http://www.br.vccs.edu/library/guides/wrath%20of%20ahab.pdf |archive-date=July 16, 2010 |journal=Journal of American Culture |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=43–46 |doi=10.1111/j.1542-734x.1997.00043.x}}</ref> Several lines in the film refer to the 21st-century dwellers being primitive, with the people of the 24th century having evolved to a more [[utopia]]n society. In the end, it is Lily (the 21st-century woman) who shows Picard (the 24th-century man) that his quest for revenge is the primitive behavior that humans had evolved to not use.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}} Lily's words cause Picard to reconsider, and he quotes Ahab's words of vengeance, recognizing the death wish embedded therein.<ref name="Hinds-1997"/>

The nature of the Borg in ''First Contact'' has been the subject of critical discussion. Artist and writer Julie Clarke notes that while other alien species are tolerated by humanity in ''Star Trek'', the Borg are viewed differently because of their cybernetic alterations and the loss of freedom and autonomy. Members of the crew who are assimilated into the Collective are subsequently viewed as "polluted by technology" and less than human. Clarke draws comparisons between the technological distinction of humanity and machine in ''Star Trek'' and the work of artists such as [[Stelarc]].<ref name="Clarke-2002">{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Julie |editor-last=Zylinska |editor-first=Joanna |editor-link=Joanna Zylinska |date=2002 |chapter=The Human/Not Human in the Work of Orlan and Stelarc |title=The Cyborg Experiments: The Extensions of the Body in the Media Age |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-ducqyIa-MC&pg=PA48 |series=Technologies: Studies in Culture & Theory |publisher=Continuum International |isbn=0826459021 |pages=48–49 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Oliver Marchart drew parallels between the Borg's combination of many into an artificial One and [[Thomas Hobbes]]'s concept of the [[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]].<ref name="Marchart-2002">{{cite journal |last=Marchart |first=Oliver |name-list-style=amp |date=2002  |editor1-last=Stäheli |editor1-first=Urs |editor2-last=Stichweh |editor2-first=Rudolf |title=On Drawing a Line: Politics and the Significatory Logics of Inclusion / Exclusion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHbYQqCSRIcC&pg=PP7 |journal=[[:de:Soziale Systeme (Zeitschrift)|Soziale Systeme]] |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=69–87 |doi=10.1515/sosys-2002-0107 |s2cid=152243938 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The nature of perilous first contact between species, as represented by films such as ''[[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]]'', ''[[Aliens (film)|Aliens]]'' and ''First Contact,'' is a marriage of classic fears of national invasion and the loss of personal identity.<ref name="Caldwell-2000">{{cite book |last=Caldwell |first=Patrice |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |date=2000 |title=Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction |chapter=Take Me To Your Leader: A New Future for First Contact Stories |series=Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy |volume=87 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0313308462|page=103}}</ref>