Sharknado 3 filming in DC today

Note that in the Sharknado 2 movie, which was set in NYC, three characters are on the run from one of the sharknado storms (fierce waterspout/tornadoes that suck up hundreds of sharks from the ocean and spit them out onto people and city streets). Yes, this is what the movie is really about. No, it’s not supposed to be taken too seriously.

Anyway, two of the characters make it to a nearby building, but one of the characters gets squashed by a flying shark while she is riding on a bike from the Citi Bike bikeshare system.

I read that there was a labor dispute with The Asylum, the production studio that makes most of these low-budget B movies for the Syfy Channel. All of the production staff walked off the job on Wednesday. I think it was before any of the filming even started. I’m not sure who was operating the cameras and equipment on Wednesday. Substitutes? Supervisors?

The producers didn’t release the shooting schedule in advance because they didn’t want large crowds showing up. (When The Transformers filmed here in 2010, they announced the approximate schedule in advance. There were large crowds at 3rd and Pennsylvania Ave. NW and in front of the Lincoln Memorial. They had areas partitioned off for the shoots, but spectators had pretty good views.)

I think Michele Bachmann only has one or two lines in the movie, from what I read. She said something like, “Congress really needs to take the threat of these sharknadoes seriously.” Then she left to attend an important (fictional) vote at the Capitol, and that was it for her scene. I didn’t see that scene, so I can’t say if they had a storm break out just as she was leaving. (I’m not necessarily a fan of hers, but I don’t have a great wish to have her eaten by a shark in the movie. I don’t care if that happens or not. However, I do care about whether I will actually be in the movie and whether or not I get squashed by a flying shark. That’s something to boast about, I think. How many people here or elsewhere can claim that they were squashed flat by a flying shark?)

I don’t think fantasies about violence are a service to the country or to a democracy, no matter which party is doing the fantasizing. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Tea Partiers posting such fantasies about Democrats or left-wingers posting such fantasies about Republicans. I don’t like either type. If you think that stuff is acceptable, then you give up your right to object when an extremist right-winger posts similar language about a Democratic official. I’m not defending Bachmann. I’m defending the fact that politics and governance should be about public engagement and civilized debate, not fantasies about politically-based violence (no matter how fanciful the fantasy is).

As I pointed out, this thread was not supposed to be political or partisan. The movie also includes Jerry Springer, who was once a Democratic politician, before he went loopy on TV. All of the political guest stars in the movie are edgy, controversial and out there. That includes Bachmann, Springer and Coulter. My guess is that the producers chose these people simply to generate buzz. It seems to be working. (Note also that none of those three are currently in public office.)

I only mentioned Bachmann earlier because she happened to be the guest star who was in the scene on Pennsylvania Ave. earlier that day. Nothing more, nothing less. This isn’t a Democratic partisan forum either. While many bike issues tend to be favored by Democrats, overall support for cycling is much more mixed and bipartisan. There are no doubt members and visitors of this forum from both parties. Independents and non-political people too. Doesn’t mean we have to hide our politics, but fantasies about violence are highly inflammatory and unnecessary.

I know what the movies are like. Your comment isn’t tongue-in-cheek and lighthearted. Sure, someone who voluntarily takes on a public role is rightly subject to criticism and parody. But that’s not what you are doing. If you don’t see that, well, I guess you aren’t going to change your view. If you put any other person in that sentence (“I’d love to see —- get their head bitten off, because it would be for a greater cause.”), I’d have the same issue.