Who is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey - 10th Anniversary
Election season is here, so let's celebrate the 10th anniversary of my feature length documentary film about perpetual presidential candidate Vermin Supreme
It’s been over a decade since Who is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey premiered at the 2014 Minneapolis - Saint Paul International Film Festival. Most of it was shot throughout late 2012 and early 2013 (archival footage that stretches back to the 80s notwithstanding).
Vermin is entertaining as always. He engages in all sorts of antics in order to take the piss out of the two party system, and the movie touches on his more thoughtful side as well, even if he remains an enigmatic figure by the end of it. Some people even find some inspiration in his quixotic project.
Jimmy McMillan from the Rent is Too Damn High Party is also a hell of a character.
If I were making this film today, I think I would approach it somewhat differently, but a lot of my interpretation of what was happening in the political environment still rings true.
A lot has changed in American politics in the intervening years, though, in large part not for the better. The main show has started to look a lot more like the bedlam at the fringes. Occupy Wall Street lead to two Bernie Sanders campaigns, but both were beaten back, and the idea of the 99% finding solidarity to effectively challenge the 1% and improve matters for the general population feels like a quaint relic of a bygone era now, even if the Biden Administration has been a step in the right direction so far as labor policy is concerned. A lot of what used to involve people getting together to challenge powerful institutions has begun to look a lot more like balkanized tribes of people fighting amongst themselves while the broader system churns along, unchecked by a population that’s continually trapped in a hall of mirrors and at war with itself.
There’s a positive, even poetic political left that’s depicted in this film - one defined by trust and mutual respect - and that’s been all but devoured by the culture war by now, so far as I can tell (marginal signs of improvement on the solidarity front notwithstanding). Maybe it was all too naive in the first place, but there’s something beautiful in it.
It’s also been suggested that parts of the movie’s style prefigure the works of Andrew Callaghan from Channel 5 News and similar YouTube stars.
In any event, I guess a lot of people have found something to appreciate in it.
On a personal note, the film chronicles a very strange, mind-bending time in my life. I travelled to over a dozen cities to shoot it, slept on a lot of couches, fell victim to an unsavory illusion or two, and spent time with all sorts of outsider weirdos, many of whom I still quite respect (and others of whom I don’t). I was willing to throw everything to the wind for this movie, and I dove into some pretty bizarre adventures. There was something admirable in my youthful attitude towards the whole thing, even if my social judgement wasn’t so finely tuned back then.
Well, the past is the past. Only a few thousand people have seen this film (even though millions have seen clips from it), so, if you find yourself intrigued, check it out:
If you like what you see, do me a favor and buy it digitally on Amazon, or better yet, order a DVD or a Blu-ray. The boxes of discs in the other room, printed just as interest in physical media was falling off a cliff, aren’t going to magically disappear themselves.
If you prefer to watch with ads, try the Youtube Movies & TV or Tubi version. I’m pretty sure I make a couple more cents that way.
Or donate with the button below. This independent filmmaking stuff doesn’t pay the bills.
Vermin is awesome, I’ll definitely be watching this later. Pony based economy!