The Sheik

The 1921 silent film 'The Sheik' from director George Melford is based on the novel Edith Maude Hull that was a bestseller that same year. Hull was following the trope of the female explorer that was very popular at that time. Women wanted to break out and in their fantasies, they used the Orient for it. A good example of one of these female explorers is Gertrude Bell. The film shows the story of Diana, a young liberal-minded lady who rather explore the dessert than marry a gentleman. One night in the hotel, she sneaked into a private party of Sheik Ahmed at the casino. He noticed her and send her away, but at the end of the evening, he couldn't stop thinking about her. When his servant told him that she was the lady he was about to guide through the desert, the Sheik came with a strategic plan. Late at night he climbed onto her balcony and removed in silence the bullets of her gun. The next day lady Diana left to explore the desert, but suddenly she got ambushed by the Sheik and his convoy. She tried to shoot at them, sadly enough it was a lost cause considering her bullets were stolen. Sheik Ahmed captured her with the motive that she would become his wife. During the rest of the story, she tried to escape a few times and got captured again, but by another barbaric Arab, the bandit Omair. It was around this moment she realised she was in love with Sheik Ahmed. Nevertheless, the Sheik rescues his damsel in distress and confesses his love for her, all's well that ends well. 

A classic Disney-worthy story with that little touch of Stockholm-syndrome, you would think. Yes, it has those keys to it, but it also has a pretty offensive presentation of the East. Maybe as a reference, this film was made in the 1920s and the French colonization of Tunisia was until 1956. Thereby, superior Western ideology was still very current. It was mostly displayed through the contradiction of the virgin-like lady Diana and the savage, barbaric Arabs, her kidnappers. In the scene of the casino-night the Sheik and his company gamble and trade over women as if they were slaves. When Raoul, the French friend of the Sheik, cames to visit, the opposition between West and East became bigger. For example, Raoul is a gentleman that sits on a chair. On the other hand, Sheik Ahmed chooses to sit on the floor. Raoul thinks it's horrible that his friend is capturing an innocent European lady and imposing her to be his wife. The Sheik cleverly respond that 'when an Arab sees a woman he wants, he takes her'. When The Sheik gets wounded his convoy is praying for his health, but it is the cunning Frenchman who appears to be a doctor that saves his friend with the help of science. 

An interesting motive throughout the film is that of miscegenation or 'mixing of races'. Knowing that the motion picture was produced in the 1920s in the United States, it has to be linked to the debates of races there at that time. With these discussions came miscegenation fantasies in the popular culture. However, these remain fantasies, because in reality there were anti-miscegenation laws in the United States that forbid any kind of relation between 'whites and non-whites'. Up until late 1967s, a few laws persisted in the American constitution. There had to be a good reason to legitimate the relationship of lady Diana and Sheik Ahmed. Fortunately, during the big reveal at the end of the film, it was cleared that Ahmed wasn't an Arab at all, but he was adopted at a young age. His parents were European and so is he!

An important question to ask is who's fantasy is this story? The novel was written by a woman, so you could imagine it's hers. On the other hand, it could be a male's fantasy, as he is conquering the woman he wants. Both Western gazes could have that sense of 'Escapism' in the Orient and its sexual connotation.