History Literature / TheSheik

--->''"(...) This camp wasmany miles to the south of the one to which she had first been brought, and which had been broken up a few days after her capture. The settingwas wonderful, the far-off hills dusky in the afternoon light, theclustering palms behind the tents (...)"''

* LargeHam: Even by the standards of silent film acting, the wide-eyed, carnivorous gazes that Valentino directs at Agnes Ayres stand out.

* NearRapeExperience: In the movie, the Sheik catches Diana crying and praying in the tent and realizes he can't go through with it.

** Also, in the movie she is special to him from the start (the serving girl, for instance, refers to her as Ahmed’s bride), while the book, she is explicitly stated to be just one of many mistresses and he says it outright he’ll only keep her until he gets tired of her (and he remains of that opinion until the climax).

* {{Brownface}}: All of the Arabs in the film are played by American actors.

* ParentalAbandonment: The Sheik's mother leaves his father because he's an abusive drunk, then dies when he's two years old, leaving him the adopted heir to the former Sheik.

* RomanticizedAbuse

* HotGuysAreBastards: The Sheik is repeatedly described as handsome, and he's definitely a bastard.

* LimaSyndrome: The Sheik winds up with this for Diana. After he's tortured her for around a month, he starts wondering why her pain gives him no satisfaction. "Guilt" isn't a word that figures into his vocabulary until much later.

* {{Blackface}}: Brownface? Arab face? In any case, all of the Arabs in the film are played by American actors.

The Valentino movie, his follow-up to his StarMakingRole in ''Film/TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse'', was another hit, confirming his status as a star. It's probably the role he's best remembered for today. In 1926 it spawned a {{Sequel}}, ''Son of the Sheik'', in which Valentino played both an older Ahmed and Ahmed's grown son. That was Valentino's last film before his premature death from a perforated ulcer.

** Sheik Amhed gives a similar speech to his son in the sequel when he learns he has kidnapped and raped a young dancer out of revenge. Clearly he has mellowed.

* AsYouKnow: In the movie, some expository dialogue between two disapproving old ladies establishes that Diana is going to take a tour of the desert without any white men as escorts.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Diana.

* FauxActionGirl: Diana, who can supposedly ride and shoot and otherwise hold her own in a brawl, appears to only actually be able to ride a horse.
** She does take part in a shootout at the end of the film.

* FirstFatherWins[=/=]ThickerThanWater: Averted with the Sheik's biological father. One of the few cases in the literature of the time where the abusive husband's eventual change-of-heart does not result in reconciliation, and he has to forever live with the consequences of his actions. Including that his son wishes to have nothing to do with him, and develops a complete hatred for all the English, showing reverence only towards his adoptive Arab father.

* LimaSyndrome: The Sheik winds up with this for Diana. After he's tortured her for around a month, he starts wondering why her pain gives him no satisfaction. 'Guilt' isn't a word that figures into his vocabulary until much later.

* RapePortrayedAsRedemption: Less obvious than the above, but the implication is still there.

''The Sheik'' is a [[ValuesDissonance (by modern standards)]] rather [[ValuesDissonance horrifying]] novel written in 1919 by a woman named Edith Maude "E.M." Hull. A rather less horrifying [[TheMovie movie]] was made in 1920, starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres.

The Valentino movie, his follow-up to his StarMakingRole in ''Film/TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse'', was another hit, confirming his status as a star. In 1926 it spawned a {{Sequel}}, ''Son of the Sheik'', in which Valentino played both an older Ahmed and Ahmed's grown son. That was Valentino's last film before his premature death from a perforated ulcer.

* ATasteOfTheLash: In "The Son of the Sheik" the sheik's tied-up, bare-chested son is subjected to a prolonged whipping by a rival sheik who creepily calls him "My young lion." His rape of Yasmin is presented as revenge for this whipping as he wrongly believes she is responsible.

* {{MST}}: Creator/SJPerelman mocks this book in his comedic essay "Cloudland Revisited: Into Your Tent I'll Creep," focusing on the PurpleProse and ClicheStorm.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Diana feels this way at the beginning of the story; considering nearly every man in the book was in love with her and she regularly had to give BetterAsFriends speeches to her [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend unlucky childhood friends]], it's not surprising in the least.

* RapeIsLove: Of course.

In TheMovie, thanks to the MoralGuardians of the time, the actual rape doesn't happen. As it's in the public domain it can be read [[http://www.publicbookshelf.com/romance/the-sheik/ here]].

* FirstFatherWins[=/=]ThickerThanWater: Averted with [[spoiler: the Sheik's biological father]]. One of the few cases in the literature of the time where the abusive husband's eventual change-of-heart does not result in reconciliation, and he has to forever live with the consequences of his actions. [[spoiler:Including that his son wishes to have nothing to do with him, and develops a complete hatred for all the English, showing reverence only towards his adoptive Arab father.]]
* GoingNative: [[spoiler: The Sheik.]]

* HappilyAdopted: [[spoiler: The Sheik.]]

* HollywoodGenetics: [[spoiler: A white English man and a Spanish noblewoman with very distant Moorish ancestry produce a son who can pass for 100% Arab.]]

* PassFail: Sort of. TheReveal is that [[spoiler:the Sheik isn't actually Arab at all, but is so disgusted by his English heritage he'd rather pretend he ''was'' an Arab]].
* ParentalAbandonment: The Sheik's mother leaves his father because he's an abusive drunk, then dies when he's two years old, leaving him [[spoiler: the adopted heir to the former Sheik]].

* TranslationConvention: The characters are actually speaking French in the majority of the story, and some French expressions ("Bon dieu!") are peppered in the dialog. [[spoiler: The Sheik can actually speak perfect English, but refuses to do so due to his hatred of his biological father.]]

In TheMovie, thanks to the MoralGuardians of the time (such as they were), the actual rape doesn't happen. As it's in the public domain it can be read [[http://www.publicbookshelf.com/romance/the-sheik/ here]].

* FauxActionGirl: Diana, who can supposedly ride and shoot and otherwise hold her own in a brawl, appears to only actually be able to ride a horse. Then again, in that day and age there really wasn't any such thing as a ''real'' ActionGirl.

* {{MST}}: SJPerelman mocks this book in his comedic essay "Cloudland Revisited: Into Your Tent I'll Creep," focusing on the PurpleProse and ClicheStorm.

''The Sheik'' is a (by modern standards) rather [[ValuesDissonance horrifying]] novel written in 1919 by a woman named Edith Maude "E.M." Hull. A rather less horrifying [[TheMovie movie]] was made in 1920, starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres.

* BastardBoyfriend: And how.

* DistressedDamsel: Diana turns into one of these.