reinstate "derived from". "neutral tone" cannot be used as a euphemism for "burying knowledge" and i will not allow the propaganda to parade as "neutral" on wikipedia. |
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'''''Dreams from My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception''''' is a 2012 American documentary-style film by [[Joel Gilbert]] which |
'''''Dreams from My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception''''' is a 2012 American documentary-style film by [[Joel Gilbert]] which claims that U.S. President [[Barack Obama]]'s biological father was [[Communist Party USA|CPUSA]] activist [[Frank Marshall Davis]].<ref name="orlando"/><ref name="daily" /> The title derived from the title of Obama's own memoir, ''"[[Dreams from My Father]]"''. |
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==Background== |
==Background== |
Revision as of 03:37, 19 March 2014
Dreams from My Real Father | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joel Gilbert |
Written by | Joel Gilbert |
Produced by | Joel Gilbert |
Narrated by | Ed Law[1] |
Edited by | Paul Belanger Joel Gilbert |
Music by | Wayne Peet |
Production company | Highway 61 Entertainment |
Distributed by | MVD Visual |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Dreams from My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception is a 2012 American documentary-style film by Joel Gilbert which claims that U.S. President Barack Obama's biological father was CPUSA activist Frank Marshall Davis.[2][3] The title derived from the title of Obama's own memoir, "Dreams from My Father".
Background
The film claims that Barack Obama's biological father was the "poet and left-wing activist" Frank Marshall Davis and that Davis met Obama's mother Ann Dunham through her father Stanley Dunham, who Gilbert claims was not a furniture salesman, but actually a CIA agent tasked with monitoring Communists in Hawaii.[4]
Filmmaker Joel Gilbert said the film was the result of two years of research. He claims he found nude and fetish photos of Obama's mother Ann Dunham, which he says were taken in late 1960 by Frank Marshall Davis in Davis' Hawaii home. Gilbert compared these to Dunham's high school pictures and says he found the correlation to be "obvious". The Hollywood Reporter said, "He did not use an expert, however, to support his finding."[4]
Gilbert says that over one million copies of his film were mailed to voters in Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire and Colorado in the time leading up to the 2012 United States presidential election. He refused to disclose who funded the film's distribution, and a report by The Daily Beast pointed out that there was no way to verify the numbers claimed by Gilbert.[3]
Two of the fetish photos in question were actually printed in issue 23 of the magazine Exotique, which was published in early 1958.[5] At that time, Ann Dunham was only 15 years old, and was living in Mercer Island, Washington.[6] The Dunham family did not move to Hawaii until the summer of 1960.[6]
Response
Critical reaction to the film varied, with some conservative commentators and even a Republican Party official praising the film. Bill Armistead, the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, endorsed the film and called its theory "absolutely terrifying".[7] WorldNetDaily's Jerome Corsi accepted the film's photographic claims at face value and called the film's case "compelling".[8] Jack Cashill, also a WorldNetDaily contributor, called the film "the most fascinating video treatment of the Obama story that I have yet to see."[9]
However, even amongst staunch conservatives, the reaction was not uniformly positive. Some believers in the Birther theory, such as Orly Taitz, disliked the film, since it claims Obama's father was an American, albeit a Communist.[10]
The reaction in mainstream audiences was distinctly negative. In focus group testing conducted by Republican research analyst Frank Luntz to gauge reactions to three anti-Obama documentaries prior to the November 2012 U.S. elections, the 30-member test audience shown the film was described as "revolted" by it. The other two films were Dinesh D'Souza's 2016: Obama's America (negatively received), and The Hope and the Change, by Citizens United, which registered favorably. Luntz described his clients' motivation for including the film in his study as "want[ing] to know if it's as bad as [they] think it is."[11]
David Maraniss, author of Barack Obama: The Story, called the film "preposterous", saying that it is "depressing to have so much fictional, unreported, conspiratorial, unhistorical stuff floating around." Among anti-Obama productions, Maraniss said "This DVD is the worst of the bunch."[2]
The Daily Beast said, "It's tempting to ignore Dreams from My Real Father because it's so preposterous... What matters here is not that a lone crank made a vulgar conspiracy video, one that outdoes even birther propaganda in its lunacy and bad taste. It’s that the video is finding an audience on the right."[3] Slate said, "The documentary... claims that Barack Obama was sired by Frank Marshall Davis – a bowdlerization of Obama's actual relationship with Davis, a Communist poet whom his grandparents sought out as a mentor for the young future president... Like the best Obama conspiracy theories, the pretense is that the president is hiding something in plain sight."[12]
Steve Murphy, a Democratic consultant, said, "It's about the lowest thing you can do to accuse, with no evidence, the opposition candidate's mother of being a porn star... There are two motives behind this – racism and money. It's a cynical attempt to make some coin and exploit the views of the fringes of mainstream views."[4]
Of the ad for the film in the New York Post, one Businessweek writer wrote:
- The ad's one irrefutable claim is that the DVD is topping Amazon[.com]’s documentary sales. With few exceptions, reviewers are giving it five stars and gushing reviews. They give less credence to some of Gilbert's other films, including Elvis Found Alive and Paul McCartney Really Is Dead.[13]
References
- ^ Tapson, Mark (Aug 14, 2012). "Dreams from My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception". frontpagemag.com. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ a b Stratton, Jim (October 18, 2012). "Anti-Obama DVD floods local mailboxes". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
- ^ a b c Goldberg, Michelle (September 28, 2012). "With 'Dreams from My Real Father,' Have Obama Haters Hit Rock Bottom?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
- ^ a b c Staff (September 28, 2012). "New Anti-Obama Film Claims His Mother Posed for Nude Photos". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
- ^ Kim Christy (1998). The Complete Reprint of Exotique: The First 36 Issues, 1951–1957. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-7436-1.
- ^ a b Maraniss, David (August 22, 2008). "Though Obama Had to Leave to Find Himself, It Is Hawaii That Made His Rise Possible". The Washington Post.
- ^ Rayfield, Jillian (September 20, 2012). "Alabama GOP chairman goes birther". Salon. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
- ^ Corsi, Dr. Jerome (2012-04-25). "FILM: PRESIDENT'S FATHER NOT BARACK OBAMA – 2 years of research, rare photos support compelling case".
- ^ Cashill, Jack (May 15, 2012). "Now about Obama's Teenage Years!". American Thinker.
- ^ Reilly, Ryan J. (May 16, 2012). "Batty 'Birther' Movie Divides Conspiracy Diehards". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ Jeremy W. Peters (October 23, 2012). "Strident Anti-Obama Messages Flood Key States". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
- ^ Weigel, David (October 1, 2012). "Will the Latest Obama Conspiracy Help Him Win Ohio?". Slate. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
- ^ Julian Sancton (September 11, 2012). "'New York Post' Runs Boldest Anti-Obama Ad Yet". Businessweek. Retrieved 2012-10-04.