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  • ['WASHINGTON D.C.' BY GIL SCOT-HERON PLAYS]

  • # IT'S A MASS OF IRONY FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE

  • # IT'S THE NATION'S CAPITAL, IT'S WASHINGTON D.C.

  • KYLE: My name is Kyle.

  • And I was born in Washington D.C.

  • Even if you've never been there, you probably have a good idea of what it looks like.

  • Just from any number of movies about war, or TV shows about politics.

  • Often in montages during the title sequences.

  • It's cliche.

  • I do love the House of Cards opening, though. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

  • But I wonder what other perspectives we could get on it.

  • [WALE] D.C. CHILLIN', P.G. CHILLIN'

  • # FLOOR TO THE CEILIN', STUNTIN' IN MY BILLION-AIR

  • KYLE: I'd like to think that I know the city quite well.

  • And, as with any native of any city, it's a common pastime to scour fiction

  • and chuckle at the little inconsistencies.

  • Like how Steve Carell enters the north entrance to the Smithsonian Institution Building

  • then appears in the south entrance of the Museum of Natural History, a block north.

  • Or how Judi Dench looks for information about her lost son, a Congressman,

  • and wondering what she could possibly find at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

  • And of course, the classic.

  • [CRASH, SUDDEN STOP]

  • D.C. skyscrapers.

  • Which do not exist.

  • Even if a film is actually shot here, they just can't resist going back to L.A.

  • and shooting a set piece with a high-rise.

  • Washington is a very horizontal city.

  • Save for that notable 500-foot obelisk.

  • And, of course, that famous dome.

  • In fact, there's a fascinating but false local legend.

  • That by law, buildings in D.C. must go below a certain height

  • to ensure the permanent visibility of the Capitol rotunda.

  • It's not true. But given how often the building is used as a metonym for the entire city, it might as well be.

  • Oftentimes, the crew never sets foot in D.C.

  • and sticks the Capitol Building in the background in post.

  • Washington is a city found in B-roll.

  • Shoot your actors in Atlanta, follow them through second unit shots of Washington,

  • then film them arriving back in Atlanta.

  • Or even more egregiously, shoot something familiar on Constitution Avenue,

  • then reverse cut to Los Angeles, with L.A. City Hall right there in the background,

  • then right back to Constitution Avenue.

  • Or, if they want to go for verisimilitude, they shoot on location.

  • In Baltimore.

  • Washington's architectural twin.

  • But more commonly, it's a fly-by.

  • BETSY: How lovely it is! Makes you feel proud, doesn't it?

  • KYLE: Shot of the Mall,

  • then to some interior set somewhere,

  • then to the terrorists or serial killer or potential alien invasion that the movie's really about.

  • This has been done for decades, by the way.

  • ANNOUNCER: Flying saucers seen over Washington D.C.

  • [DUKE ELLINGTON'S 'DON'T GET AROUND MUCH ANYMORE PLAYS]

  • For as many films that are set here, so few are shot here, due to tax reasons.

  • PETEY: Talk to me.

  • So even stories about actual D.C. residents are shot elsewhere.

  • [AMBIENT STREET NOISE]

  • These characters work in an office on K Street.

  • These actors were shot in a studio on Sunset Boulevard.

  • These characters work in the Washington Naval Yard.

  • These actors were shot in Santa Clarita.

  • These characters work in the J. Edgar Hoover Building.

  • These actors were shot in Vancouver.

  • Sometimes they do use actual interiors, but it's cheaper to fake it in-studio.

  • Just give the actors a hallway through which one can walk briskly and exposit.

  • And of course, they always walk to one destination.

  • Obviously.

  • THE DOCTOR: Oh look, this is the Oval Office.

  • I was looking for the, uh, Oblong...Room.

  • KYLE: Of course, no film can use the actual Oval Office.

  • ['DIES IRAE' BY MOZART PLAYS]

  • [GUNSHOTS]

  • I'd imagine that every major studio has their own version of an Oval Office set on standby.

  • They dress it up, dress it down,

  • find new and exciting angles to film in.

  • It's the most recognizable room in the city, yet we're most familiar with its copies.

  • From this, you'd think there was nothing outside the Capitol and the White House.

  • That's all the city you need to know.

  • What's remarkable is how consistent this is with Washington's history.

  • ['WASHINGTON POST MARCH' BY JOHN PHILLIP SOUSA PLAYS]

  • KYLE: See, D.C. isn't like other world capitals.

  • It's not a major economic center like London,

  • or a cultural center like Paris.

  • It's not even like other East Coast American cities.

  • Unlike Boston, or New York, or Philadelphia,

  • it was never a great colonial port before becoming a major city.

  • It only became a city because of the needs of the new federal government,

  • as a neutral administrative hub for the States.

  • Prior to its founding in 1790

  • the only urban life was a small trading port on the Potomac called Georgetown.

  • Georgetown is also the setting for a few D.C. films that...aren't about politics.

  • [CRY OF AGONY]

  • [SHATTERING GLASS]

  • [THUMPING]

  • KYLE: Pierre L'Enfant's original plan for the city was organized around four key structures:

  • A Congressional House,

  • The Presidential Palace,

  • a Grand Avenue connecting the two,

  • and in sight of the first two structures,

  • a monument to our first President,

  • who would give the city its name.

  • TOBY: You see that? Pull that out, America deflates.

  • KYLE: And, well...that's it.

  • Development outside of those buildings were a long series of false starts and dead ends.

  • Steven Spielberg shot his version of Washington in Petersburg, Virginia,

  • and even it feels too sanitized.

  • For most of the 19th century,

  • D.C. was shantytowns, slums, and mud.

  • In "Democracy in America", Alexis de Tocqueville referred to it as "an imaginary metropolis".

  • GORDON: Nice horse!

  • KYLE: It wasn't until the turn of the 20th century

  • that Washington began to live up to L'Enfant's original design.

  • With the development of the City Beautiful style,

  • and the rise of America as a global power,

  • Congress enacted The McMillan Plan,

  • and the city developed its monumental core.

  • Overgrowth between the Washington Monument and the Capitol

  • was cleared to form a grand plaza:

  • the National Mall.

  • New buildings were constructed, all expanding the Neoclassical style

  • of the White House and the Capitol.

  • All echoes of Greece and Rome.

  • Even the unique design of the D.C. Metro system evokes Roman catacombs.

  • The Smithsonian got new buildings.

  • A grand memorial to President Lincoln was built.

  • And the city's rail lines would all be consolidated at Union Station.

  • A City Beautiful hub, with a head-on view of the Capitol Building.

  • MR. SMITH: Look! Look! There it is!

  • KYLE: So when Frank Capra had Mr. Smith go to Washington,

  • Jimmy Stewart's reaction is exactly what the city's designers had in mind.

  • MR. SMITH: Well, there it was, all of a sudden.

  • As big as life, sparklin' away under the old sun out there,

  • and I...

  • *laugh* I-I just...started to go toward it, and

  • I-I don't think I've ever been so thrilled in my whole life,

  • and-and that Lincoln Memorial!

  • Gee whiz, I...

  • ...why Mr. Lincoln, there he is!

  • He's just looking right straight at you as you come up those steps.

  • Just...Just sitting there like he was waiting for somebody to come along.

  • LISA: Mr. Jefferson? I have a problem.

  • JEFFERSON: I know your problem: the Lincoln Memorial was too crowded.

  • KYLE: From the Capitol,

  • to the Library of Congress,

  • to the National Archives,

  • to the Presidential Memorials,

  • our government created a city aesthetic that could outlast the state.

  • America may go, but at least Lincoln will always be there.

  • LOGAN: I've never seen a face like that before.

  • KYLE: The entire Mall was designed as a grand performance of the nation.

  • A visual reminder of the national ideology.

  • COOLEY: I thought maybe us meetin' here by this fine old monument

  • might have a salutary effect on our conversation.

  • KYLE: We've often imagined clandestine meetings beneath the shadow of these monuments,

  • dark secrets shared by the grass below the marble.

  • A city of spies.

  • [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

  • [SCARED GASPS]

  • But mostly, the Mall's full of tourists.

  • LESLIE: So I want to see The History of the Girl Scouts,

  • and then Lincoln's Pocket Watch, and...everything.

  • KYLE: And joggers. SAM: Don't you say it, don't you say it--

  • STEVE: On your left. SAM: Come on!

  • KYLE: And of course, protesters.

  • The people of America using the space to make their voices heard.

  • [BANNED IN D.C. BY BAD BRAINS PLAYS]

  • And should America fall, our conquerors would surely use the Mall for the same effect.

  • [BANNED IN D.C. CONTINUES]

  • [EXPLOSION]

  • And were we to rebuild, the first stones would be laid here as well.

  • [GRAND OLD FLAG PLAYS]

  • Washington D.C. is not a city.

  • It is a stage.

  • And it always plays itself.

  • [GRAND OLD FLAG CONTINUES, SUDDENLY CUTS OFF]

  • But where's offstage?

  • If you have D.C. and take away the monuments,

  • are we all just lost?

  • TOBY: I don't know, it's a nice street, it's uh...

  • It's quite leafy, uh...federal houses...

  • KYLE: We only see the people in lawmaking.

  • And in law enforcement.

  • So few outside of those great marble columns.

  • So why do I love the House of Cards opening?

  • For the irony.

  • There are no people in it.

  • The cinematic Washington doesn't care about Washingtonians.

  • Everyone--the tourists, the joggers, the protesters, and the politicians--

  • they're all from elsewhere.

  • All from small towns and local governments

  • working FOR the small towns and local governments.

  • That's not a negative.

  • Perhaps it's the central myth of American democracy.

  • We can travel to the great city, and meet the powerful.

  • And even though they put up a big show, they're really just like us.

  • WIZARD: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

  • And it's comforting to know that there really are men behind the curtain.

  • People from the same place as us.

  • They are the country.

  • But they're not Washington.

  • They're all just visitors here.

  • They're not permanent.

  • KAHMUNRAH: Why, these aren't real rubies at all!

  • Ruby slippers indeed! [CRASH]

  • KYLE: So how do these visitors see us?

  • Well, generally, they don't?

  • SAMSON: You gotta know your districts. This is the worst, right here.

  • KYLE: Washington has mostly been ignored outside of the tourist attractions.

  • Its unique legal status places a majority of legislative power

  • in the hands of the federal government rather than local government.

  • And for most of its history, the federal government has had a, well,

  • laissez-faire attitude towards development outside of the federal core.

  • This scene was shot six blocks from the White House, by the way.

  • Worth mentioning that Washington, for most of its history, has been majority African-American.

  • (I mean, just throwing it out there, might have something to do with it. Just might.)

  • So most of the time, the Washington you see on screen

  • is exactly the Washington that our leaders want you to see.

  • Groomed and polished by Americans from across the country into what they think it should be.

  • MIKE: Washington Land, the new Disney theme park!

  • KYLE: I've known Washingtonians who've complained that it's a city designed to work in,

  • but not live in.

  • It's easy to get a little resentful.

  • [BRAKE, TIRES SQUEAL]

  • So there. America gets Washington, and Washington gets...

  • Ben's Chili Bowl?

  • WALE: #D.C. CHILLIN', P.G. CHILLIN

  • [MUSIC CUTS]

  • [MUSIC FADES UP]

  • KYLE: To be in Washington is to live in the shadow of symbolism.

  • Obscured by the screen of a necessary democratic narrative.

  • That this place belongs to all.,

  • but not to us.

  • DONNIE: Each year, we get millions of guests from every corner of the globe!

  • Where are you folks from?

  • JOHN: Uh, Washington D.C.

  • DONNIE: Bad choice.

  • KYLE: I wish the world could see more of Washington.

  • The one outside that confining cruciform of The McMillan Plan.

  • I wish we could see the parts of Washington that aren't given significance

  • simply by their proximity to history.

  • I want to believe in a Washington filled with people, not symbols.

  • Not as a place of the past, but of one with a future.

  • I look forward to when we can see Washington, not as a stage,

  • but as a city.

  • THE MAGNETIC FIELDS: #WASHINGTON D.C.

  • #IT'S PARADISE TO ME

  • # IT'S NOT BECAUSE IT IS THE GRAND OLD SEAT

  • # OF PRECIOUS FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY, NO NO NO

  • #IT'S NOT THE GREENERY TURNING GOLD IN FALL

  • # THE SCENERY CIRCLING THE MALL

  • # IT'S JUST THAT'S WHERE MY BABY LIVES, THAT'S ALL

['WASHINGTON D.C.' BY GIL SCOT-HERON PLAYS]

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