Rudolph Valentino's 'The Perfect Lover'

A “The Perfect Lover”, Rudolph Valentino was a motion picture star of the 1920s.

His ethnic masculinity in The Sheik (1921) explicitly appealed to the female audience. He challenged gender politics of what women wanted in a male lover and also American values and ideals. Which lead to him posing as a threat to the traditional American man, “the physically passive mollycoddle or effeminate sissy boy.” (Studlar, 2004, p. 290) His persona on and off-screen stirred up controversy. Valentino was considered a woman-made man, bringing masculine tributes alongside feminine qualities. Dancing was considered a more “feminine” physical activity with names given to male dancers such as “lounge lizards”, “gigolos” and “tango pirates”. Rudolph Valentino exhibited dangerous female fantasies, in particular with his domineering dancing of tango. His persona was constructed around this passionate and exotic dance which featured heavily in many of his films.

Furthermore, as Valentino

Valentino plays “A desert lover with a cruel streak” (Addison, 2003, p. 126). His role shows dominance over the submissive female when his character Ahmed Ben Hussain, kidnaps Lady Diana Mayo, played by Agnes Ayres. He forces upon her aggressive masculine power to make her fall in love with him. Which later on in the film she realises that does she actually love the Sheik, demonstrating the patriarchal ideology of the time. However, in the 1920s interracial relationships was not accepted, so at the end of film it was revealed that his father was actually British and his mother Spanish. Bringing his character to a complete circle that fits both the romantic narrative and ideology of the 1920s. The Sheik is a “romantic menace combined with an underlying sensitivity.” (Addison, 2003, p.