Gene Hunting: Difference between revisions

There are a few different ways this can play out: firstly, they [[Changeling Fantasy|find their genetic parents and discover happiness]] (this only works if the old parents are distant or [[Abusive Parents|abusive]]). Secondly, they can find their genetic parents, only to find they are more distant or jerky than their adoptive ones (expect lots of Prodigal Son-style making up at the end). Thirdly, they can ''locate'' their biological parents, only to realize that they'd rather not confront them and risk disrupting everyone's lives. Finally, they can fail altogether to find their parents (a real [[Downer Ending]] will have the character give up ''just before'' they would have found their parents).

Should not be confused with [[Stalker With a Test Tube]], an entirely different form of gene hunting. When handled poorly, this can carry a great deal of [[Unfortunate Implications]] in regards to relationships between adopted children and the parents who raised them (ie, no blood relation = no love/not family).

[[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[Life On Mars|Gene]] [[Adam Westing|Hunting]]

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Cat Dog]]'' went looking for their parents, and believed they found their relatives in a little town in the mountains where cats and dogs get along. {{spoiler|1=They're wrong, and also discover that the peace between cats and dogs is apparently really, ''really'' fragile. They eventually find out their real parents were (if I recall correctly, since the CatDog page doesn't say) ''a female yeti and a fish''. Considering this probably isn't the strangest thing they've ever seen, they're very accepting.}}

** {{spoiler|He is a frog with a very long nose, not a fish.}}

* Moses in the movie ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]'' is shocked to find out he's not ''really'' a prince, but a Jew.

** He knew full well where he came from in [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]. He murdered an Egyptian out of ethnic/nationalistic pride due to not wanting to see his own attacked by an Egyptian wrongly. ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]'' merely tidies the story up for young viewers, by making that whole murder thing an accident. The idea that he didn't know who he was actually comes from the film ''[[The Ten Commandments]]''.

* Po's arc in ''[[Kung Fu Panda]] 2'' is driven in part by this, especially since he has faint memories of his original parents abandoning him. But he eventually comes to terms with both the fact that {{spoiler|they loved him so much they died for him, and that his adoptive father loves him no less.}} Cue [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] marathon.

* Leela's personal plot in early ''[[Futurama]]'' episodes is this, though played with. As she belives she's an alien, she's looking for her entire race, not just her parents, and she doesn't have adoptive parents, she was raised in the orphanarim from childhood. She belives she finds the only other cyclops, but he turns out to be a shape shifting alien who only wants her to take care of one of his castles. She eventually discovers that she's not an alien, but a sewer mutant who looks mostly normal. Her parents left her on the orphanarium's doorstep because they wanted her to have a normal life and watched over her from the shadows her entire life. She vists them often in later episodes and tries to go back and have a life with them after being returned to a teen, but returns to normal.

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[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Gene Hunting]]