''Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers'' is a 2003 Swedish

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

and

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

, created by director Erik Gandini and editor Johan Söderberg. It looks at the arguments for

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

, such as greater efficiency, more time and less work, and argues that these are not being fulfilled, and they never will be. The film leans towards anarcho-primitivist ideology and argues for 'a simple and fulfilling life'.

Synopsis

Opening *Footage of the protests at the

27th G8 summit The 27th G8 summit was held in Genoa, Italy, on 20–22 July 2001 and is remembered as the peak of the worldwide anti-globalization movement as well as for human rights crimes against demonstrators. Overview The Group of Seven ( G7) was an unoff ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. * Fidel Castro gives a speech. John Zerzan * John Zerzan is interviewed. RealDoll * RealDoll manufacturer gives a tour of his warehouse, showing the variety and cost of the sex-dolls. Cuba *Mirta Muñes shows the Cuban ration card, Cuban toothpaste. *Pre Fidel Speech Parade, Fidel going up to the pulpit. *Tania speaks about having gone out of Cuba, amazed by supermarkets, McDonald's, and gaining a lot of weight. Internet *Internet-wealthy Svante says he hates money, feels empty. *John Zerzan on emptiness in consumer society. * Ballmer's monkeyboy dance and then "I love this company" statement intermixed with workers stretching, then Fidel Castro lip-synched to "I love this company". *footage from

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Al ...

, India where it says 40,000 workers scrap ships to recycle steel. *John Zerzan speech saying violent protesting is better than peaceful protesting, intermixed with a car show, and protesting. New Ethic *John Zerzan says corporate property of Starbucks or similar is the main target of his criticism due to being understood as destructive and wiping out freedom and diversity. *footage of primitive man. *landfills, with conclusion: there is a paradigm shift coming where people will not want corporate products and will desire a simple, fulfilling life. This can be understood ironically. Credits

Views

It prominently features the views of anarcho-primitivist John Zerzan.

Talking Heads

* John Zerzan, anarcho-primitivist writer, editor of '' Against Civilization: A Reader'' (1998) * Fidel Castro,

President of Cuba The president of Cuba ( es, Presidente de Cuba), officially the president of the Republic of Cuba ( es, Presidente de la República de Cuba), is the head of state of Cuba. The office in its current form was established under the Constitution of ...

Kalle Lasn Kalle Lasn () (born March 24, 1942) is an Estonian-Canadian film maker, author, magazine editor, and activist. Near the end of World War II, his family fled Estonia and Lasn spent some time in a German refugee camp. At age seven he was resettled ...

, from

Adbusters The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself as "a global network of artists, activis ...

* Svante Tidholm, from Stockholm, Sweden, a wealthy web-designer of Spray and author of the autobiographical novel '' Loser'' (Wahlström & Widstrand, 1998, Swedish) * Carlo Giuliani, Activist and anarchist killed during Anti-G8 demonstrations in Genoa, 2001

Criticizes

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

* Steve Ballmer, CEO of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

from 2000 to 2014 *

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, Chairman of the Board and Chief Software Architect of

Style

Surplus uses many montages. Surplus overtly uses

lip-synching Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

to put words in the mouth of people who hold similar world powering positions. Examples of this are

speaking for

, Fidel Castro mouthing the words of

CEO Steve Ballmer: "I love this company! Yeah!"

Soundtrack listing

*''

Gotan Project Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris (France), consisting of musicians Eduardo Makaroff (Argentine), Philippe Cohen Solal (French) and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss), a former member of Touch El Arab.Madlen Albrecht ''Le développement ...

- Triptico'' *''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language drama ...

- Orozco'' *'' Aphrodelics - Aphrodelics – Rollin' on Chrome (Wild Motherfucker dub)'' *'' Marc O´Sullivan (The Mighty Quark) - Smokescreen'' *'' Marc O´Sullivan (The Mighty Quark) - Theme from Good People'' *''Johan Söderberg and David Österberg - No-tech-no'' *''Johan Söderberg and David Österberg - Rice&Beans'' *''Johan Söderberg and David Österberg - 18 Miljener'' There is much repetition of footage and soundtrack; no more so than in ancient Pali dhammasutras; but certainly at least as boring; and without their excuse that in an oral tradition the technique was necessary to learn the words for their public recitation.

Locations

, Italy -

(2001) *

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China - Stock Exchange *

, India - Metal reclaiming * United States /

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

/ Hungary / Sweden / Canada

Awards

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary, 2003

References

External links

Official website
*{{IMDb title, id=0368314, title=Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers
Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers
Direct download (free)
The film in its entirety on Youtube.
2003 films Anti-modernist films Films directed by Erik Gandini Documentary films about globalization Documentary films about consumerism Documentary films about politics Swedish documentary films 2003 documentary films 2000s Swedish films