Gene Hunt...why does he drive me crazy??

[Heather]

and from what I've been reading on another board he drives other girls crazy too.
I can't say I'm a fan of his fashion sense(apart from the green shirt ).The sideburns I can take or leave.He makes me cringe most times with the words he says.
He's a right(to quote Sam)"Lunatic B**t**d" but theres something about the Gene Genie that makes me go weak everytime I see him.

Now I know having the lovely PG play him has alot to do with it but to get back to the character himself I think the attraction is down to him being a mans man with no "in touch with his feminine side" in sight.

It's like back in 1977 when Star Wars came out and my hormones started stirring.Luke Skywalker didn't float my boat at all. He should have done, he was the hero after all.
Instead I was lusting after Han Solo,the anti hero,the rogue.

Gene is that to me.He is the lovable rogue.He acts like he couldn't give a s**t about people and places but underneath that tough exterior lies a softer man at heart.You don't need mango in your curry or "Park... Pictures" to know it's there.

Am I making any sense?? or am I just getting my wotsits mixed up??

[v23474]

Gene Hunt has that certain something - he's a guilty pleasure.

Yes, he can be abrasive, chauvinistic, completely un-politically correct but at the same time he's funny, strong and endearing.

[wibble]

Ah, if only that could have been my third year dissertation question and not resistance in the Third Reich - the ten thousand words would have flown by...

The Gene Genie.  Yes he is a sexist, homophobic whatsit.  He is truly a man of his time.  It's the unpcness that attracts.  He is just so different to 'noughties man' - and although if trapped in a lift with him (oh if only...) he would probably drive me bonkers, I'd be willing to give it a go, for research purposes only, obviously. 

He's blunt yet sensitive, in your face yet so passionate with it that you wouldn't really want him to stop, and although at times a damn scary piece of work, he is also incredibly funny, caring (about others much more than himself), constantly encouraging and, above all, a damn good friend to our Sam. 

[Phantom]

It's like back in 1977 when Star Wars came out and my hormones started stirring.Luke Skywalker didn't float my boat at all. He should have done, he was the hero after all.
Instead I was lusting after Han Solo,the anti hero,the rogue.

Much like when I saw Independence Day, and it wasn't Will Smith, it was Jeff Goldblum... Ok, maybe it's nothing like that. More like... I dunno, Sirius Black* not Harry Potter? (It would have been more fitting to say Severus Snape not Harry Potter, actually.)

I do love Sam to pieces but I love Gene too.

*Don't ask me to choose between Book Sirius and Movie Sirius. It's inhuman.

[janni]

well that's hardly fair anyway.  if we're going with movie versions, how could Radcakes stack up to Alan Rickman anyway? 

[v23474]

He's blunt yet sensitive, in your face yet so passionate with it that you wouldn't really want him to stop, and although at times a damn scary piece of work, he is also incredibly funny, caring (about others much more than himself), constantly encouraging and, above all, a damn good friend to our Sam. 

Precisely 

I wish I could've phrased it as well as that.

[Jeangenie]

Do you get the impression that his feminine side topped herself a loooooooong time ago?

Even so, ya gotta admit,  he IS beautiful!!

[Loz]

He's a complex and dynamic character. You could fool yourself for a second and say he's just a violent jerk, but then he comes out with these amazingly insightful comments and you realise he's so much more than that. He can't operate on purely one level, he's always multi-faceted. He does have a sensitivity to him, as wibble said. He also has this protective and loyal aspect which pings my personal moral code cheerfully (ignoring the beatings and chauvinistic remarks).

He's fantastic with the witty reactionary humour - "I'll make you a hat!" He has great chemistry with others - especially Sam. He can be very, very charming when he wants to be. Refreshingly honest when he doesn't. There's this divide between him being closed-off and putting on a face and him being amazingly open. Gene isn't afraid to do what he has to do, and even though I sometimes disagree with his methods and reasoning (read: almost always), I can't help but respect that about him. He is brave and self-sacrificing (Roger Whittaker, anyone?) and he does actually compromise.

Despite sometimes being short-sighted, he's actually relatively tolerant. Is he really that homophobic? Sam calls him so at one point, and Gene makes jokes about Warren, but it always seems to me that he dislikes Warren for who Warren is in relation to his business and doesn't so much use his homosexuality as a slight against him because it's homosexuality - he uses it because he knows it pisses Warren off.

Is he overwhelmingly racist? We haven't really seen him reacting to many from ethnic minorities, so it's quite hard to conclude one way or the other. He likes Nelson, but you know, there are quite a lot of racist people who can have a friend from an ethnic minority and then turn around and say the most appalling things. Yes, he is prejudiced, in various different degrees (he hates hippies!) but he's not as bad as many can be and he makes no allusions to not being so. I'd say he really is tolerant for a man in his position of his time. Of course, seeing whatever he gets up to in the next series may blow that perception out of the water (why do I get the feeling we're going to have at least one episode which goes deeper into 'race' than the Mill episode did?)

Physically; he has a sexy, sexy voice (even when he's being Geordie - EEEEE, oh my yes.) I genuinely get lost in his eyes for ages. And ages. And ages. I kind of love his hair when it's longer - even the sideburns and I usually hate sideburns. He's cuddly (okay, I admit, I love cuddly guys. Really.) He does sometimes have this sort of casual elegance about him which stems from his attitude. Other times he's hilariously inelegant. He just has this presense which commands attention.

Um. I could go on for several more hours.

[wibble]

Great post Loz! 

DCI Hunt certainly does bring out strong emotions in his fans.  Stunning writing combined with a simply glorious performance from PG has made Gene Hunt one of the first true tv (and maybe one day film!) icons of the 21st Century. 

[Matt G]

He's a complex and dynamic character. You could fool yourself for a second and say he's just a violent jerk, but then he comes out with these amazingly insightful comments and you realise he's so much more than that. He can't operate on purely one level, he's always multi-faceted. He does have a sensitivity to him, as wibble said. He also has this protective and loyal aspect which pings my personal moral code cheerfully (ignoring the beatings and chauvinistic remarks).

He's fantastic with the witty reactionary humour - "I'll make you a hat!" He has great chemistry with others - especially Sam. He can be very, very charming when he wants to be. Refreshingly honest when he doesn't. There's this divide between him being closed-off and putting on a face and him being amazingly open. Gene isn't afraid to do what he has to do, and even though I sometimes disagree with his methods and reasoning (read: almost always), I can't help but respect that about him. He is brave and self-sacrificing (Roger Whittaker, anyone?) and he does actually compromise.

Despite sometimes being short-sighted, he's actually relatively tolerant. Is he really that homophobic? Sam calls him so at one point, and Gene makes jokes about Warren, but it always seems to me that he dislikes Warren for who Warren is in relation to his business and doesn't so much use his homosexuality as a slight against him because it's homosexuality - he uses it because he knows it pisses Warren off.

Is he overwhelmingly racist? We haven't really seen him reacting to many from ethnic minorities, so it's quite hard to conclude one way or the other. He likes Nelson, but you know, there are quite a lot of racist people who can have a friend from an ethnic minority and then turn around and say the most appalling things. Yes, he is prejudiced, in various different degrees (he hates hippies!) but he's not as bad as many can be and he makes no allusions to not being so. I'd say he really is tolerant for a man in his position of his time. Of course, seeing whatever he gets up to in the next series may blow that perception out of the water (why do I get the feeling we're going to have at least one episode which goes deeper into 'race' than the Mill episode did?)

Physically; he has a sexy, sexy voice (even when he's being Geordie - EEEEE, oh my yes.) I genuinely get lost in his eyes for ages. And ages. And ages. I kind of love his hair when it's longer - even the sideburns and I usually hate sideburns. He's cuddly (okay, I admit, I love cuddly guys. Really.) He does sometimes have this sort of casual elegance about him which stems from his attitude. Other times he's hilariously inelegant. He just has this presense which commands attention.

Um. I could go on for several more hours.

Stands over the puddle of drool where Loz used to be*

[Loz]

I can't help it, Matt.



Speaking of Matts - this  interview (provided by Simon F on the LJ comm) with Matthew Graham confirms a lot of what I said about Gene regarding his bigoted or non-bigoted aspects thank you very much.

[NeuralClone]

One of the really interesting things about this interview is the description of what Gene might have been like.  Can you imagine what the dynamic of the show would have been like if "Sam was always right, always rolling his eyes at the incompetence and the barbarism of Gene".  You'd wind up with an insufferably smug Sam and a boring Gene - not much fun at all!

And LOM probably wouldn't have captured nearly the audience it did...

[rhrobtaylor]

The point is that before all this PC stuff got into the world...Guys like Gene were what Women wanted and Men aspired to be...

Phrases like "Lovable Rouge" and "Treat Em Mean" were the norm...

Secretly I think people kinda want those days back a bit, as it has gone completely stupid now, people kinda hanker for the old days, where you could fancy someone cos they were rugged or Blonde haired, 34DD and look like Farrah Fawcett and not have to feel like you are offending anyone.. That is Gene's appeal...

[NorthcoastLady]

I think Gene Hunt is pure animal magnetism.  He doesn't walk into a room, he prowls into it, looking calm but able to pounce in half a heartbeat.  He set the bar high when he leaned in the doorway of his office then suddenly grabbed Sam and slammed him into the cabinets.  Hasn't disappointed me yet.  I even like the way he's like a lion daddy playing with his cub, Sam.  He teases him to teach him.  Pushes Sam to grow, but keeps a watchful eye the whole time.

Mary

[suzieb1]

I agree, NorthcoastLady and I think that he's doing the same thing with Annie. Especially when he calls her a "Proper CID girl." You might think that he's mocking her but I can hear the pride in his voice and from the smile on her face, you can tell that she does too.

Its a case of "Cruel to be kind."