Next up on Diagnosing The Belcher’s is the middle child Gene. Him being a middle child should already say enough because he acts just like the stereotypical middle child; attention seeking, slightly annoying, and a social butterfly. However, Gene’s brain seems to be running at 100 miles per minute and he often gets distracted, meaning he doesn’t finish very many tasks that he has or forgets about them. This is why Gene Belcher definitely has ADHD.
Gene is the type of character that you don’t even have to know ANYTHING about mental illnesses to tell that he has ADHD. There are thousands of examples throughout the show, but in season 5 episode 5, “Best Burger,” there is no denying that Gene has ADHD that not only affects his life, but his families as well.
In this episode, Bob and Linda are competing in a burger making competition. Bob, for some unknown reason, thought he could trust Gene to do a task as simple as putting one ingredient in the cooler. Whenever the whole family gets down to the pier (where the competition was held) and starts to cook their burgers, Bob realizes that he does not have his star ingredient, black garlic, which was the one thing Gene was supposed to get. The parents send all of the kids to go back to the restaurant and get the black garlic, but when they get there Gene gets distracted by a spatula and scratches his back with it instead, crushing the black garlic all over his shirt. This is a prime example of ADHD because not only did he forget it before and get called out on it, but he also still forgot about it again the second he saw his “back scratching spatula,” showing just how easily something can slip his mind.
Gene might forget a lot of things, but he also doesn’t finish anything. He has a lot of projects that he starts but doesn’t see them through. In one of the episodes, his teacher calls him out on giving up when things get hard and when he told Louise (his little sister) she said, “you’re a starter, not a finisher,” which I think describes him perfectly.
Another strong indicator that Gene has ADHD is how fast he talks. Tina, the one who last week I said was depressed, talks very slow and monotone, while Gene is loud, energetic, and just fast. Making the two have such different voices and speed in which they talk really emphasizes how hyper Gene is.
(him with the black garlic on his shirt+his back scratching spatula)
September 16, 2021 at 7:07 pm
Hi Rylee! This was a great read. I loved how you analyzed this character and how you were able to observe and provide great examples to help prove your point!
September 17, 2021 at 9:12 pm
I am enjoying this PAS blog so far! I often wonder if the writers have a deeper reason for giving these characters their mental struggles. For example, maybe the writers are making commentary on mental illness in America, or they know people who personally have similar issues. Possibly, it is not intentional at all. I’d be curious to see what you think.
September 18, 2021 at 6:06 pm
This post was really interesting and from the characteristics you described, I completely agree that Gene represents ADHD. I really liked how you brought in the specific black garlic example from the episode. Common characteristics of someone with ADHD include being unable to sit still and concentrate on tasks as well as excessive talking. All of these traits fit well with the examples of Gene that you provided so I completely agree that he represents ADHD and I think the contrast between Gene and Tina is also really important in emphasizing both of their mental illnesses.