Possessed, a short film by Martin Hampton, explores the lives of four people who obsessively collect consumer detritus of one variety or another. (You can view the full film below. It’s 21 min.)

The film questions whether hoarding is a symptom of mental illness or a revolt against the material recklessness of consumerism. When does collecting become hoarding and why do possessions exert such an influence on our lives?

Kinda reminds me of Cinemania, a documentary about hardcore film fans that came out in 2002. In fact, one of the film buffs featured in that movie was also a hoarder (the filmmakers could barely walk through her apartment, it was so stuffed with old newspapers)… which gets to the heart of this, I suppose: Where does one draw the line between fandom and hoarding?

Possessed [Vimeo via Unconsumption]
(Photo: TRCS Public Wiki]

Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky are coeditors of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture. In previous lives, they worked together on the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine .

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