Introduction

Charlie Sheen is a celebrity in American culture because of his extratextuality. Construction, society and culture, industry, reception, and discourse help define Sheen’s stardom. Charlie Sheen has made himself relevant in American culture by filling the void for an unfiltered, outspoken bad boy that he can project through media.

Overview

Charlie Sheen is a great celebrity to study because he has been in both American movies and television shows for about twenty-five years and is surrounded by all kinds of issues that are heavily covered in the media. His heavy drug use and “winning” attitude have drawn the eyes of millions of Americans.
Sheen, now 46, was born to well-known actor Martin Sheen, and Charlie and his brother Emilio Estevez both followed in their father’s path. Charlie’s early movie career consists of films like the Vietnam War drama Platoon (Stone, 1985) and he eventually went onto a more comical role with movies like Major League (Ward, 1989), Major League 2 (Ward, 1994), Scary Movie 3 (Zucker, 2003), and Scary Movie 4 (Zucker, 2006). He followed his career in film with the television hits Spin City (Gary David Goldberg, Bill Lawrence, ABC, 1996-02) and the one he’s most famous for, Two and a Half Men (Lee Aronsohn, Chuck Lorre, CBS, 2003-).

Two and a Half Men premiered on CBS in 2003. The show was based around Charlie Sheen and his bad boy image. While starring on the show Sheen received three Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Award nominations. In 2010 he signed on to return to the sitcom for $1.8 million an episode making him the highest paid television actor per episode (Wikipedia.org, “Charlie Sheen”). Soon later Sheen ran into severe drug use problems that became publicly known, as well as problems with CBS, which eventually led to him being fired.
Recently Sheen has been interviewed on national news programming, and with his careless lifestyle and bad boy image he has gained great popularity. A couple months ago Sheen set a record for the fastest person to one million followers on Twitter. On March 10 he announced a nationwide tour, “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option”, which sold out in a matter of minutes of being available. Sheen is no longer with his former porn star goddesses, and instead has moved on to new projects including segments with FunnyOrDie.com, a song with Snoop Dogg, a possible new sitcom in replace of Two and a Half Men, is reported to be featured on the August cover of Gentleman’s Quarterly United Kingdom, and will be publicly “roasted” on Comedy Central’s Roast of Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen is a great celebrity to study because of the successful career he has had along with the lifestyle he has lived. His bad boy image feeds his popularity and has only made him a larger star. No matter if you like Charlie Sheen or not everyone has something to say about him, including the media and even celebrities. Justin Bieber said to TIME magazine in regards to the “most influential person” in the world right now, “[It] has got to be Charlie Sheen. He's got a million followers in one day on Twitter. And . . . I've never seen that happen before. Plus, he's got tiger blood, and he's always winning" (NYPost.com, “Charlie’s Man”). How Sheen chooses to image himself through social media outlets and how the media portrays him combined with how the audience perceives him is what we aim to analyze and determine how he is an influence on American culture.

Industry

            Charlie Sheen's main medium to begin his career was through Film. Sheen has been in the film and television industry since 1984. His first feature film was Platoon (Stone, 1985), where Sheen plays Chris Taylor, a young man who drops out of college to volunteer to fight in the Vietnam War.  This was a break-out film for Sheen, with Platoon being nominated and winning several Oscars for the film. 

            Sheen's next big film was Wall Street (Stone, 1987) where he co-starred with Michael Douglas and father, Martin Sheen.  Where he played Bud Fox, a young ambitious New York City stock broker.  Charlie Sheen also played Bud Fox in a small role in the remake Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Stone, 2010) also co-starring Michael Douglas.

            Heading into the 90's Sheen was cast to play Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn in the sports comedies Major League (Ward, 1989) and Major League II (Ward, 1994).  Some would argue that Sheen's "Bad Boy" persona started while playing Bud Fox in Wall Street.  We would argue that playing Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn began his "Bad Boy" persona due to the timeline of his personal and legal troubles.

            Beginning in the year 2000 Charlie Sheen made a jump into television starring in the television series Spin City (DreamWorks,Goldberg and Lawrence, ABC, 2000-2002).  Sheen replaced Michael J. Fox who played a Deputy Mayor named Flaherty.  Sheen's character, Charlie Crawford, finds himself in New York's City Hall protecting the incompetent Mayor from himself.  Spin City was cancelled in 2002.

            In 2003 Sheen starred in another television series Two and A Half Men (Lorre and Aronsohn, CBS, 2003-2011), as a Charlie Harper.  I single jingle writer who lets his brother and his brother's son, Jake, move-in to his Malibu beach house.  Harper is a mid-aged never been married bachelor who decides that maintain the same lifestyle even with his brother and nephew living in the house.  Harper constantly drinks and engages in a variety of other vices including woman and gambling. 

            Many would suggest that much of Charlie Sheen's fictional roles and personal life have some parallels.  We consider this a bi-directional relationship (a relationship that goes both ways).  This is apparent in his role as Charlie Harper in Two and A Half Men.  Harper has addictions to alcohol and gambling, many times drinking during the middle of the day.  Harper also has several failed relationships with women due to his constant infidelity.  Harper also cares fore his nephew which he gives advice, attends school functions, and provides for.  Many of these same traits we see in Charlie Harper directly parallel Charlie Sheens very public private life.

Construction

           Charlie Sheen's intertextual projects portray his "Bad Boy" image through the fictional characters he plays. In 1986 Sheen had a small role in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Hughes, 1986).  In this small role his demeanor and natural arrogance shines through overshadowing his appearance.  With these combines traits we come to see Charlie Sheen as the "Bad Boy."  This was the first time we see Sheen in a role parallel to his persona.  Dyer makes the point that these intriguing roles and personas of fictional characters help shape the public opinion of actors.  These opinions are then projected throughout the media (Dyer, pg 53)

            The "Bad Boy" social type is different then that of Dyer's "Rebel," but could be considered as a subtype of that category.  The "Bad Boy" lacks acceptance of perceived  norms and values.  The social type of the "Bad Boy" is usually in conflict with mainstream culture.  The "Bad Boy" can often times be the hero or convey hero-like qualities.  He is most time masculine and handsome which makes him appealing to both sexes.  Men want to be like him and women want to be with him.  He many times has that "it" thing that draws people in. Dyer proclaims that the "Rebel" has a different set of subcategories including, "the immigrant, the rebel against his own class, generation gap rebel, and the anti-hero rebel" (Dyer, pg 52) to name a few.  In many  cases "The Rebel" is seen as socially irresponsible or socially inadequate.  These characteristics do not cleanly fit in the "Bad Boy" social type.

            Charlie Sheen's next role portraying this "Bad Boy" image was in the 1989 sports comedy Major League.  In this role Sheen plays Ricky Vaughn, a ex-convict pitcher, who goes by the nickname of "Wild Thing."  This nickname comes from his lack of accuracy while pitching, but also from his constant disregard for the rules of the team as well as society.  Ricky Vaughn is loved by his fans (especially women) and hated by opposing teams and their fans.  This is important because whether you love him or hate him he evokes an emotion in which the audience can relate.  He has hero-like qualities in the way that he is able to come through for his team, fans, and the city of Cleveland.  Although, the "Bad Boy" his hero-like qualities overtake his rebel-like behavior.

            One year after the release of Major League Charlie Sheen's first public "Bad Boy"  event occurs when then girlfriend Kelly Preston was shot in the arm by his gun.  The incident was ruled an accident, but this was the beginning of Charlie Sheen's public "Bad Boy" persona. In 1995 Sheen was listed, as one of many celebrity clients, in the trial against madam Heidi Fleiss.  Sheen's comments regarding spending of 35,000 dollars on call girls was "I love sex and I can afford it."  Charlie's role as Ricky Vaughn along with the incidents following his portrayal of this character help in constructing Sheen's image as the "Bad Boy."

           

Reception

Fans play a huge role in the popularity of celebrities. There are different levels of fans and all have specific ways in which they view celebrities. Fans follow Sheen through online media such as fan clubs, social media groups, and YouTube videos. Charlie Sheen has gained reception through an inclusive group of who follow and interact with his extratextuality.
There are several Charlie Sheen fan clubs on the Internet today. One in particular is www.winning.com. On this website fans are presented with the opportunity to read up on the latest of what Sheen is up to along with being able to watch videos that are posted by fans. The site has a link to view and post quotes that Sheen has said and even has a section to purchase apparel. The apparel displays images of how we see Sheen as a real person. The shirts have certain phrases like “#Winning” and “Tiger Blood”, words that Sheen uses to describe the way he lives.

Fans of Sheen have also used social media as ways to follow Charlie’s life. There are several groups on Facebook, in which people interact and follow what Sheen is doing. One in particular is called “If ever in doubt, just ask yourself, what would Charlie Sheen do?” In this group fans interact with other fans daily through wall posts. Fans will post quotes, opinions, and links to stories about Sheens. Fans will even post comments of how Sheen has inspired them to live their lives in certain ways.

Another form of media that is used for fans to receive news and more on Sheen is YouTube. Everyday fans post videos involving Sheen and others comment back with quotes and how much they love Sheen. Some of the more popular videos of late are the remixes of news interviews he has had. In these videos people have taken quotes out of certain news interviews and turned them into songs. YouTube is one of many forms of media that displays how fans see and interact with Sheens life.

Through these investigations Charlie Sheen’s extratextuality plays a large role in the reception he gains from fans. Sheen has a huge following of fans that admire him for his “winning” attitude. Charlie Sheen has become a celebrity more for his extraxtexuality image and less for his intertextuality.

Discourse

Charlie Sheen’s placement within American media discourse over the span of his entertainment career has shown his relevance and interest among audiences. Articles in People from 1987 to present have recorded Sheen’s personal life and range from reports on drug and alcohol abuse to marriages, even within the same articles. Sheen’s image through People has evolved in meaning yet still carries out the rebel, unconventional persona that his actions have publicly shown and been reported on over the course of his film and television career.

Beginning with the article, “Charlie’s Angel,” People pointed out that in 1995 Sheen had admitted to paying for sexual services from call girls. The article then reported on Sheen’s new marriage to model Donna Peele after only knowing one another for five months, a marriage that ended after another five months. The article was short, a 424-word report on a small, intimate marriage where not a lot of details were disclosed to the public to begin with and measures were taken to deter the paparazzi.

In June 2002, Sheen had married again to actress Denise Richards, which was a major newsworthy People article, “A Whole New Ball Game,” by Julie Jordan and Jill Smolowe. People presented the report of the marriage after describing Sheen’s new pre-wedding tattoo dedicated to Richards and telling of how Sheen’s been sober for four years, both alluding to his bad boy image. Richards was shown in a “cherubic” light (Jordan, Julie and Jill Smolowe). The article was longer than the first and involved more of Sheen and Richard’s time and experiences together. It was reported that they do not discuss their own past with each other, as told by Richards, “We all have a past, unfortunately his was very public. I respect him for who he is. I admire him for where he’s come from.” She later describes their wedding arrangements, “That’s the biggest misconception about Charlie. He’s incredibly traditional, very romantic,” and Richards also described him as introverted, innocent, and personal in the article (Jordan, Julie and Jill Smolowe). This article was important in seeing the “romantic” side of Sheen as told primarily by his now ex-wife and his father Martin Sheen, and seeing some of Charlie’s own personal views that are not captured as often because they do not fall under the rebel, crazy, bad boy image that he carries and is brought on to him through other tabloids.

The March 2011 People article, “Apocalypse Now,” reports on Sheen’s current troubles with his former boss, Chuck Lorre. This article explains Sheen’s past drug addictions and current recovery by what Sheen describes as the results of a “new brain.” The article is a critique and analysis to what Sheen is doing and plans to do with his personal life with his two then-current porn star girlfriends, his children, his career, and himself. Celebrity doctor Drew Pinsky refers to Sheen as hypomanic while his friend and radio host Alex Jones describes Sheen as a deliverer of “dark satire.” Jones says, “Charlie is somebody who feels repressed and oppressed, like people have been trying to control his life for decades,” (“Apocalypse Now”).

Charlie Sheen’s image created by tabloid coverage over the years is constructed for an audience who wants information on his personal life, despite Sheen’s reluctance or own construction at what he wants to provide. In the past he has provided little, true insight, or “tidbits,” by giving the audience what they wanted to consume from him (Gamson 91). Now Sheen has rejected the control of his boss and publicist and is giving interviews according to what he wants the audience to know, like in his 20/20 interview for ABC News (“Charlie Sheen: ABC News Interview on 20/20 Special Edition”).          

"Best Charlie Harper Moment"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6EqAV9Visk