The Panopticon in Gotham City

In "Discipline and Punish," Michel Foucault uses Jeremy Benthem's "Panopticon" to examine power and knowledge. The panoptic prison in a round structure that features a central tower. Placing a guard in this central position eliminates any blind spots. "The panoptic mechanism," Foucault says, "arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognize immediately" (554). According to Foucault, this panopticon can also be observed in our society. Citizens have the knowledge that if they were to break a law, a law enforcer might see this and they would have to face serious consequences. Therefore knowledge (in this case the knowledge that someone is watching) in panoptic and maintains order.

We can see an example of this in Christopher Nolan's films "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight." In the first film Gotham city's criminals no longer observe the law simply because of the knowledge that the police might catch them. The law enforcement system has become corrupt and it takes a new law enforcer to frighten the criminals into changing their ways. In the following scene the Joker knows that it is the Batman that keeps them from going out at night. Because criminals have the knowledge that the Batman exists and is fighting crime, Batman power. He does not have to physically stop every crime, the mere knowledge of him will top certain crimes from taking place.

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel. "Discipline and Punish." Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: an Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 549-65. Print.