ABSTRACT
The approach in this chapter derives from cultural criminology, which explores the rich meanings of different realms of human behaviour within their lived contexts, thereby approaching the complex relationships between deviance and control as human and cultural phenomena. The analysis in the chapter focuses on particular criminological contexts, although aspects of the more general philosophical dimensions still show through. In line with the epistemological edgework of Arkham Asylum, at one point we see Batman using physical pain to block out painful memories from his past, converting the amorphous trauma of emotional grief into the knowable and rationalised pain of physical injury. In the alchemy of this narrative, movement is presented an epistemological recall that exposes the 'bad art' of orthodox, rational criminal justice knowledge-the 'bad art' that visual criminology is in part a reaction against. Accordingly, it is possible to see two cities: the phenomenal city is translated or compressed into rational forms of law to produce the legislated city.
