Watchmen: critical criminology and biopolitical semantics

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper attempts to critically examine Allan Moore’s Watchmen in terms of its elements that could be utilised for critical power thinking and the critique of fanatic and/or apolitical self-proclaimed saviours of society. The first part of the paper attempts to read Rorschach through the prism of critical criminology, as he represents the novel’s most distinct expression of revenge and retribution, which, eventually, is linked to fascist-like practices. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the reading of Veidt’s macabre plan and his set of advice for self-care in terms of a twofold biopolitical strategy that entails both the thanatopolitical effect of killing millions for the sake of life itself and preaching the need for the latter’s optimisation to achieve individual and collective happiness. In the end, Watchmen is a ‘superhero neo-noir’ critique to both worldviews, since its point of departure is the critique of superheroes overall, as ‘nothing works’ and therefore ‘nothing ever ends’ if the structural reasons behind unfairness and oppression remain untouched.