The western world's minimal attention span is caught in the virtual interweaving webs of the trivial happenings of the actor Charlie Sheen and his supposed mental breakdown. It appears that the agenda of the media is to create a narrative which will primarily focus on Mr Sheen's real time descent into madness. His very own heart of darkness with him playing the role of Mr Kurtz. Not much attention though has been applied to the cause of these events. Charlie Sheen had a privileged upbringing being the third child of successful actor Martin Sheen. It is seen as advantageous to be the offspring of a Hollywood movie star, as it brings with it luxurious opulence, an endless supply of money, which results in easy access too amazing opportunities that most individuals cannot afford or imagine. It seems very clear that the source of all of Charlies troubles, ill's and conflicts that have been systematic throughout his life derive from the father/son relationship.
Sigmund Freud had a psychological concept termed The Oedipus Complex. Freud claims that all sons feel that they are in a constant and perpetual competition with their father. They subconsciously want to show that they are the better man. That they are the new and improved version of their father. Charlie Sheen chose to follow the path of a thespian in an attempt to emulate his successful father. The opportunities afforded to him in this choice of career were obviously due to the door opening power of Hollywood nepotism in the form of his father Martin Sheen. Charlie Sheen's talent as an actor was an inconsequential element in attaining his first acting role, which was at the age of 9 in 1974, which, not surprisingly was in a film starring his Father Martin Sheen. Charlie Sheen knows all of this, he knows that his achievements were not produced by him alone. He was helped, he was gifted his career due to the success of his father, and he knows that without that relative Hollywood connection he would have had very possibly never have got into acting at all. And this innate knowledge is indicative to the creation of low self worth that inhabits Charlie Sheen's perception of himself. This poor self esteem has manifested itself throughout his adult life in the guises of drug use, conflict in relationships and self harm.
Had Charlie Sheen eclipsed or equaled the success of his father then the demons that possess him would have been slayed or at least kept at bay. However it is clear that at this stage in his life, this will not happen. His Father is a Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner, held in high esteem within the industry, has a long successful career spanning 4 decades which has never lulled, he has worked with cinematic luminaries such as Scorsese, Coppola, Brando. The contrast between the two careers is brought into sharp focus by comparing the Fathers seminal political ground-breaking TV drama "THE WEST WING" too Charlie's formulaic sit com "Two and a half men".
For Charlie to break this negative spiral of self loathing, he needs to adopt a new persona, a change of career, to disengage from the domain of acting, a domain that he was clearly LOSING at. As he knows that he cannot follow his father's footsteps within the avenue of acting. Therefore this has resulted in his explosive attempt to imprint himself into the public's conscious through the media in the last week using incendiary language and abstract ambiguous prose, it is an attempt to create a new Charlie, a new persona. His catchphrase * winning * is more tangible and understandable when observed within this father/son psychological context. However Charlies new direction is unfocused and clearly lacking aim. Back in 2009 Charlie sheen released an open letter through the internet asking president Obama to answer questions about 9/11. His belief being that the event was staged by the united states government. He was dismayed over the lack of interest and coverage that this event received from the media. I find it strange that within this frenzied tsunami of media hysteria that's crashing and spattering around him, that he has not decided that now would be an appropriate time to re-ask those questions again. Perhaps those questions are only secondary to the primary interest for Charlie, that of winning and overcoming the legacy of his father.
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