Shia LaBeouf - the Anticelebrity

I had an epiphany recently, I now admire Shia LaBeouf and continue to find him really interesting.  This Sia video was what recently won me over:

Also, having recently seen this one really got to me as well:

A comparison came to mind when thinking about his public image that perhaps as the anti-hero is to the hero, he is to the celebrity, an anti-celebrity. Lifted directly from Wikipedia, an antihero or antiheroine is a leading character in a story who, unlike a traditional hero, lacks conventional heroic qualities such as idealism, courage, and morality. So, the traditional celebrity strives for what? Fame, fortune, mass media recognition of their talent, and a need for attention. It's sort of a slippery identifier, and the definition can take a lot of forms. For example, sometimes celebrity can happen on accident, or people strive for it endlessly and can't maintain it, like reality TV Stars.

Shia though, an obviously talented actor, with worldwide blockbusters under his belt, started to slip into a Joaquin-Phoenix-like crazy life crisis in 2014. Unlike Phoenix though, it doesn't look like Shia is faking it to make a movie. He is actually cracking up a bit, and we get to watch it all live though social media and the internet.

He goes on Ellen later in the year and opens up to her about the experience. Saying that he ended up putting himself in an installation type environment and allowed the public to come and talk to him about all the harsh things that were being said about him in person. Where is his publicist in all of this?

That is what I mean about him as an anti-celebrity. He is lacking the conventional quality of accepting fame, and trying to deflect it in some way.

Now, we are a critical generation, and have seen many stunts before, but I'm starting to feel like this is genuine. He could really mean it, or just be on a lot of drugs, which we assumed of Phoenix as well. I just get the sense from what I have read about him, and the interviews I watched for this piece, is that he is just a normal guy that happens to now be famous, and is remaining famous. Despite his inability to control himself around Alec Baldwin. He tries but fails at things, where his peers might not. He lacks the finesse and charm of James Franco or Natalie Portman.

He is a product child of the Disney Channel, so he has been in the spotlight for most of his life, maybe he is now questioning his social existence. Let's give him that, and maybe he was having a battle making his way out of The 27 Club last year. At least his is doing way better than Amanda Bynes.

That is all.