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Arab Oil Sheikh: Difference between revisions
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[[The War on Terror|In the present climate]], they might be involved in financing terrorism. Sometimes [[The Con]] will involve someone using this trope and posing as a rich Arab to help explain a source of abundant but eccentric money for the mark.
They also turn up a lot in [[Romance Novel]]s along with older depictions of the Arab Sheikh where they are dark, brooding, passionate and ruling everything he surveys in his desert kingdom with the same tenacity as he takes the woman. Sheikh romance actually gave us the term "bodice ripper" due to the common [[Victim Falls For Rapist|kidnap-rape-love]] plots where the Arab can get away with being beyond normal constraints in how he treats the heroine due to his exoticness. He'll still have [[Majored in Western Hypocrisy|the education of Lord Nelson]] though and the manners of a prince which is kind of the point: these books want someone who lives in the closest thing to a modern lavish royal court and acts like the Black Death hasn't gone out of fashion. He will also turn up as a villain trying to buy or kidnap the female lead for his harem.
An indispensable addition to any (generally evil) [[Cosmopolitan Council]]. In more comedic works, he is almost inevitably a [[Funny Foreigner]].
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* On ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'', Floyd is up for a big promotion at General Electric. He and Liz Lemon are looking at what must be a multi-million dollar apartment with a river view. Before Floyd works up the courage to commit to it, an Arab Oil Sheikh enters and agrees to buy it on the spot so that his son can store motorcycles in it.
* ''[[The Muppet Show]]''. One episode has a subplot of Arabs drilling for oil in the guest star dressing room.
* In the Omid Djalili show a recurring sketch has a parody of this trope, with a sheikh who keeps striking oil everywhere. Including in a golf course sand bunker and somehow in the middle of a park bench
* One comes to John Beresford Tipton's rescue in ''[[SCTV]]'''s parody of ''[[The Millionaire]]''.
* A stock character in several episodes of ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Mission Impossible]]''.
* The ''[[Small Wonder]]'' episode "Vicki Goodwrench" features one, played by an [[Race Lift|Israeli actor]].
* In the season six opener of ''[[Hustle]]'' {{spoiler|the grifters con an oil sheikh out of £250,000 by having Emma [[Mock Millionaire|pretend to be KylieMinogue.]] }}
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** They used it to steal two cars as well.
* ''[[Leverage]]'' had Hardison do something closely akin to this in "The First David Job".
* In the second episode of ''[[Round the Twist]]'', Mr Gribble tries to sell Nell's land (which is a day or two away from foreclosure) to a group of Arab sheiks, with the promise of the Twists' lighthouse to follow. When Mr Gribble bad-mouths the sculptures Tony makes, saying "You wouldn't give it to your mother-in-law", one of the sheiks corrects him "''[[For the Love of Many|mothers]]''-in-law". Later, the sheik sees the sculptures and buys a statue on impulse, seemingly producing $500 from nowhere (when Mr Gribble expresses disbelief, the sheik smiles and says "Give me a hand, Mr Grobble", patting him on the back).
* The music video for [[The Clash]]'s "Rock the Casbah" (which got a lot of play on MTV in the early 1980s) has some fun with this trope as a man who appears to be an Arab Oil Shiekh ends up hanging around with a man who looks like an Orthodox Jew, and the video ends with the two attending a concert The Clash were putting on.
* One attempts to buy Doreau in an episode of ''[[Sledge Hammer!]]''.
* In one episode of ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]'', an Arab Oil Sheikh visits the store and attempts to buy a pair of trousers in exchange for a goat...When the goat is refused by the sales assistants, the sheik then tries to trade a beautiful woman.
* In ''[[Highway to Heaven]]'', Mark Gordon (played by Victor French), temporarily pretends to be one of these to fool corrupt businessmen to help Johnathan Smith and Mark Gordon's equally corrupt, but good-natured friends.
* In an episode of ''[[The Nanny]]'', the [[Character Title|titular character]] visits a Sheikh at his palace in his home country. He of course falls in love with her, and tries to convince her to stay as his wife. The decision Fran has to make isn't exactly made easier by the fact that the Sheikh [[Identical Stranger|looks a lot like Mr. Sheffield]].
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* ''[[Maken X]]'' and the remake ''[[Maken Shao]]'' had one. He was one of the villains, and was short and fat, with his stomach stuffed with grotesque mutant tentacles. Did we mention these games were by the same people as ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]''?
** On a similar note, a sheik shows up if you initiate a certain line of rumors in ''[[Persona 2]]'' and gives you a side-quest dealing with filling out dungeon maps.
* In ''[[Hitman]]: Blood Money,'' one of Agent 47's targets, Mohammad Bin Faisal Al-Khalifa, could be described as an Arab Oil Sheikh. He actually runs a pharmaceutical company, but he's still filthy rich, influential, and dresses in the appropriate manner for such a Trope. For good measure, he owns the Arabian-themed casino where the mission takes place. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|One of the customers confuses him for one of the wait staff]].
* Yusuf in [[Grand Theft Auto IV]]. Though Yusuf is a nice guy from the start.
** Yusuf is the son of one, but unlike most other examples, he shows an infatuation with [[Eagle Land|American popular culture]].
* ''[[Mega Man 6]]'s'' Flame Man is designed to look like one.
* Hakan from ''[[Street Fighter IV]]'', though not the same kind of oil.
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, ruler of [[Dubai]], Vice President and Prime Minister of the [[United Arab Emirates]]. He's the guy in the picture.
** Clever enough to realize that his oil deposits won't last forever, and has been using his money for last two decades to make his country into Middle-East's leading tourist spot.
* British tabloid ''The News of the World'' reporter known as the [[wikipedia:Fake Sheikh|"Fake Sheikh"]].
* Despite what is commonly believed the Bin Laden family did not get rich off of oil, but [[Subverted Trope|construction projects]]...many of which were [[Double Subversion|commissioned by princes who had made their money from oil]].
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[[Category:Stock Characters]]
[[Category:Romance Novel Tropes]]
[[Category:
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