Abstract
In the Star Wars films, prosthetic augments and devices provide a technological “fix” to the “problem” of disability; they represent attempts to restore that which has been damaged to a sense of normality, shown on screen as wholeness or completeness.’ One example—and perhaps the most iconic to fans—is the replacement limb Luke receives after his hand is cut off by Darth Vader during their duel in The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V). However, the creation of a body that blends man and machine—a hybrid body—evokes a struggle as old as civilization itself in the West. It is a struggle familiar to the inhabitants of the ancient world and those who study it: the divide between nomos and phusis. Usually viewed as distinct orientations of being, the hybrid figure, I suggest, in its blending of man and machine, brings the pair together in the Star Wars universe.
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© 2013 Kathryn Allan
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Covino, R. (2013). Star Wars, Limb Loss, and What It Means to Be Human. In: Allan, K. (eds) Disability in Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137343437_8
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