‘A City upon a Hill’: T he W ire and Its Distillation of the U nited S tates Polity

The H ome B ox O ffice's series T he W ire (2002–2008) provides an informed critique of the decline of the democratic A merican ideal of the ‘city upon a hill’. From its inception as a police procedural, it expanded its interests across the dystopian city of B altimore to consider the linkage between drug crimes, policing, the collapse of blue‐collar life, social deprivation, institutional compromise, the public school system, media compliance and political self‐interest. Therefore, this article will situate T he W ire into the debates that have defined the US polity and will discuss how it employs the narrative conventions of a contemporary thriller to offer an alternative view of A merican democracy.