FEED
Dirs. Kevin Rafferty, James Ridgeway, 1992.
United States. 76 min.
In English.

A comedy about running for President

FEED is a collage of a documentary, presenting footage of the 1992 presidential election’s New Hampshire primaries and showcasing the candidates and their staff without commentary or narration. Using moments filmed on the campaign trail as well as pirated satellite feeds where the candidates are caught between segments in their more natural state. Released in October of 1992, just weeks before the general election, FEED features a cast of characters including Jerry Brown, Pat Buchanan, Bob Kerrey, Ross Perot, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Bush Sr., Bill & Hillary Clinton, and many more.

The satellite footage was supplied to the film by SPIN’s creator, Brian Springer, and both documentaries feel like desperate pleas with the public for media literacy. An appeal which is represented in a scene in FEED where candidate Jerry Brown pleads with a classroom of college students about propaganda and if any of them have even so much as heard of Marshall Mcluhan. They had not. Unlike SPIN, which skewers media manufacturing, FEED takes aim at the personalities that are running for office and their buffoonish antics with a comedic tendency which invites the audience to laugh at them, not with them.