The “Zero-Tech” Fight Scene as Projection of the “Hyper-Normate”

Drawing from literature on ableism and intersectionality, the article provides an interpretation of the zero-tech fight scene. A recurring motif of popular culture, zero-tech fight scenes entail protagonists for good and evil casting weapons (technologies) aside and engaging in “equalized” combat. Positioning the 1987 film Predator as archetypal, three claims concerning the political-cultural significance of zero-tech fights scenes are advanced. First, such scenes project images of hyper-normalcy that assume and reproduce the cultural authority of ableism. Second, zero-tech fight scenes denigrate departures from normalcy by symbolically linking difference to dependency and untrustworthiness. Third, the article posits that zero-tech fight scenes are not reducible to ableism. As with other “-isms,” ableism exerts force by tapping into a range of harmful ideological frameworks. This aspect of the interpretation is advanced by showing how the ableist logic that underpins Predator is fortified by the logics of racism and speciesism.