When asked by interviewer Andrea Canning on whether or not he was bi-polar, Charlie Sheen defiantly replied that he was in fact "bi-winning." Charlie's life has long been under the microscope. His father, Martin Sheen, is a highly regarded actor and much has been expected out of his talented son. However, unlike his father's clean-cut persona, Charlie has long flirted with the bad boy style of living including drugs and wild parties. Regardless of his faults, no one can deny Charlie's acting talent as his role in Two and a Half Men led it being the most popular sitcom for a good portion of the last decade.
Charlie Sheen has long had issues regarding drug addiction and his excessive lifestyle. Most recently he served a sentence in drug rehab late in 2010. Immediately after he finished his sentence, Charlie began to attack the creator of Two and a Half Men while demanding a raise to $3 million per episode. As of this moment, Charlie has been fired from the show, has a restraining order against his twin sons, and has two live-in girlfriends that he calls his "goddesses." And now he has begun a nationwide tour called "Charlie Sheen Live: My Violent Torpedo of Truth" which will just feature him sitting a chair talking, telling jokes, and just being Charlie.
Everyone who pays attention to the news knows what's going on with Charlie Sheen. Some think he's despicable, some think he's hilarious, and pretty much everyone thinks he's a loon. However, this says a lot about the state of the American youth because how much we pay attention to this nutcase. In the recent video project that we watched in class that showed how little we know about our own government, it seems rather pathetic that in general, we would rather pay attention to the rants and raves of Charlie Sheen than the state of affairs in American economics and policy. Why should we be spending money on watching a lunatic with diarrhea of the mouth sit in a chair talk about himself when we could be sending it to the Japanese tsunami victim? And I don't believe anyone in this class would rather see Charlie than help Japan but I believe that as a whole the American people can do the right thing and not give Mr Sheen what he wants... Your attention.
I agree with what you are saying here. Popular culture has become so important to Americans that we are losing sight of what is truly important in our society. It's shameful to see that more people know about useless societal pleasures like celebrities or reality TV shows than our own government and the like--the components of our society that actually mean something to us and make a difference to our lives. As much as I want our society to take a step away from the popular media coverage, I don't think it will be going away any time soon.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that we tend to ignore more important things whether that is the tsunami or the state of our economy because of "stupid" things like the life of Charlie Sheen. I don't disagree that he is a great actor and I enjoyed watching Two and a Half Men, but the commotion he brings through his comments and actions is very disturbing. And he definitely is not receiving any attention from me and people should refrain from giving him any of their attention as well.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you are saying and Lauren's comment as well. Charlie Sheen is crazy and the mass amount of media coverage he is getting is only feeding the insanity. It's interesting to think what we could accomplish if this much attention was focused on important things such as the tragedy in Japan like you said.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that Charlie Sheen isn't a good representation of American culture, and his tour isn't doing anything to educate American youth, develop their morals, and help them to understand world events. It seems that many people are simply giving in to mindless entertainment rather than increasing their awareness and contributing to the world. It's just much easier to turn on the TV and watch people like Charlie Sheen.
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