History Main / GeneHunting

* PlayedWith in ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons:'' Protagonist [[ChildProdigy Lewis]] was raised in an orphanage and wants to find his biological mother, but then [[spoiler:meets the family that's ''going'' to adopt him through TimeTravel]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' once parodied this in the episode where Heffer found out he was adopted. Heffer is a steer who was raised by wolves. Ultimately, Heffer has a dream where [[spoiler:his father informs him that he was abandoned at birth for being too much of a sissy. And that his mother's a car seat somewhere.]]

* Leela's personal plot in early ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episodes is this, though played with. As she believes 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 believes 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 visits 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.

* Defied by comedian Joe DeRosa, who is HappilyAdopted and responds to prying questions about whether he wants to find his real parents thusly:

* ''Series/ChicoAndTheMan'' has a Japanese young man come and claim Ed Brown as his father, stemming from a tryst after WW2, and how he elaborates on how he and his mother plan to move to LA to spend their lives with him. Turns out [[spoiler: Ed's not the bio-father, it had been an Army buddy of his.]] Chico saves the day by [[spoiler: falsely claiming that Ed's also his father and had been caring for him as well]], letting the Japanese decide it's wiser for them to go back to Japan.

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

* ''Secrets and Lies'' is all about somebody looking for her birth mother, though she knew she was adopted all along. The death of her adoptive mother triggers the search.
* The premise of the Creator/BenStiller film ''Film/FlirtingWithDisaster''. The main character always knew he was adopted and is fine with it, but having a child of his own prompts him to seek out his birth parents to learn more about his family history.
%%* ''Film/OctoberBaby''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Storks}}'': Tulip felt that knowing her intended family was nearly impossible thanks to her beacon being destroyed, but she still hoped she might be able to find them. She gives that up to deliver the baby. [[spoiler: Little did she know that Jasper had been taking pains to repair the beacon, and is only missing one piece of it — the one currently in her possession.]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* Flinx and his search for his genetic father in Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' book series. It's played for quite a bit of {{Wangst}} and at least two [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo Are You My Father]] moments, before being concluded in a fairly brutal fashion in the penultimate book, when he discovers that [[spoiler:he doesn't technically have one thanks to the wonders of [[DesignerBabies genetic engineering]]]].

* The young adult novel ''[[Literature/{{Janie}} The Girl on the Milk Carton]]'' is about a teen girl that sees a picture of a missing girl on her milk carton and realizes it's her. She spends the rest of the book wrestling with the knowledge that her parents aren't her true parents, that she might have even been kidnapped by them, and that she has another set of parents that are looking for her desperately.
* Inverted in ''Literature/{{Fingersmith}}'': Mrs. Sucksby tries to exchange her adoptive daughter for her biological daughter who's been raised by a rich family (she thinks the girl will love her just by virtue of being her biological daughter -- she's wrong).

[[folder:{{Live-Action TV}}]]
* Claire Bennet from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Toyed with, in that she does this not out of any sense of insecurity or Wangst, but because she wants an explanation for her immortality. Eventually she finds her biological parents, and [[spoiler:her dad turns out to a be congressman and AloofBigBrother to the man who saved her life: Nathan Petrelli, destined to become President. Nice]].
* Rather amusingly done in ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'', where Larry finds his apparent birth parents who are Christian (he is Jewish). After getting over the initial shock, he decides that he likes them, and consequentially loses all of his stereotypically "Jewish" tendencies (as well as becoming a nice nice person). After he finds out that they weren't his parents, and the people who raised him were, he reverts back to his old personality.
* Somewhat subverted on ''Series/VeronicaMars'': after it's hinted that Veronica may not be Keith's child, she gets DNA results and then discards them without reading. Her father ''also'' got DNA results, but read his. Congratulations, V, your dad's still your dad!
--->[[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming Keith: You think that charm of yours is learned behaviour? That's genetics, baby!]]
** Also done with Trina Echolls. The degree to how well that ended is up for debate.
* Chuck does this in season 2 of ''Series/PushingDaisies''. Inverted with Emerson Codd, who tries to publish a book to lead his lost daughter to him.
* "[[Series/DoctorWho Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?]]" Of course. It's not quite clear why this little boy is looking for his mummy, but the ''gene'' hunting does save humanity from [[TheVirus zombification]].
** Given the onscreen explanation of why the little boy was zombified by the nanogenes, it seems pretty clear that he was looking for his Mummy because that is what the little boy was doing when he was hit by the bomb.
* ''Series/FamilyTies'': In one episode Alex's friend Skippy goes through this, and is hurt when he goes to meet his birth mother and discovers she doesn't ''want'' to have a relationship. Alex finally says, essentially, "Look, the people who changed your diapers and have raised you all this time? Those ''are'' your real parents," and Skippy decides he's right.
* One episode of ''Series/DharmaAndGreg'' has an old friend of Dharma visit and spend a lot of time with Larry. It turns out that the friend has determined Larry ''may'' be her biological father, and though she doesn't want to bring this up and disrupt his life she wants to bond with him just in case. Dharma eventually discovers proof that Larry couldn't be the father, but chooses not to reveal it when the friend says Larry was her favorite out of all the potential candidates.
* The KoreanDrama ''Series/WinterSonata'': Joon Sang is a high schooler checking school records for who his father might be.
* On ''Series/TrueBlood'' Sam was adopted and then abandoned when his adoptive family found out that [[spoiler: he was a shapeshifter]]. When he finds his biological parents and his younger brother Tommy, they turn out to be trailer trash who support themselves by [[spoiler: having Tommy shapeshift into a dog and fight in illegal dogfights]]. When his parents abuse his hospitality he throws them out and wants nothing to do with them. He tries to build a relationship with Tommy but the kid is so messed up things quickly take a dark turn.

* In an early episode of ''Series/HighlanderTheSeries'', orphaned Richie Ryan does this, to no success--the man claiming to be his father is a con man, and the woman he'd always believed to be his birth mother turned out to have been fostering him. This turns out to be foreshadowing, as Richie is later revealed to be an Immortal, all of whom are foundlings.
* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' has a girl come into Luke's diner saying that she's doing a DNA test for her science fair to find out who her father is.
* On ''Series/CSINewYork'', the son Mac's late wife gave up for adoption as a teenager comes searching for her, only to learn that she'd died on 9/11. Although his Gene Hunting was a failure, Mac sympathizes with his could-have-been-stepson, and strikes up a friendship to tell him about his late mother.

* The plot of ''[[Series/OnceUponATime Once Upon A Time]]'' kicks off when Henry seeks and finds his biological mother, Emma.
* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': Skye got involved with Rising Tide (and agreed to join SHIELD) partly so she could search various databases for clues about her parents. She knows only that she was dropped off at an orphanage by a SHIELD agent. The episode "Seeds" answers some questions about her origin, but raises a lot of new ones.
** In the second season, she finds out about [[spoiler:her father, and quickly wishes she didn't.]]
** She then finds out later in the second season about [[spoiler:her mother, and then it turns out she's ''worse'' then her father.]]
* PlayedWith in ''Series/{{Forever}}''. Abe starts researching his family tree after he discovers his biological parents' names. He's quick to point out to Henry, however, that it doesn't change the fact that he sees Henry as his real father. He has known Henry and Abigail adopted him for at least 50 years by this point; it's not a wangsty "Who am I?" search but rather simple curiosity. Further played with when Abe's search [[TheReveal reveals]] that he and Henry actually ''are'' related: Henry's uncle from 200 years ago is one of Abe's ancestors.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer's Paternity Coot", where Homer tries to track down a man who he suspects of being his real father.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Peter goes to Ireland to find his real father.
** And when Stewie hunts down someone he believes to be his real father [[spoiler:who turns out to be himself from the future]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' once parodied this in the episode where Heffer found out he was adopted. Heffer is a steer who was raised by wolves. Ultimately, Heffer has a dream where [[spoiler:his father informs him that he was abandoned at birth for being too much of a sissy. And that his mother's a car seat somewhere.]]

* Moses in the movie ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' is shocked to find out he's not ''really'' a prince, but a Jew.
** He knew full well where he came from in Literature/TheBible. He killed an Egyptian out of ethnic/nationalistic pride due to not wanting to see his own attacked by an Egyptian wrongly. ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' 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 ''Film/TheTenCommandments''.
* Po's arc in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda 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 CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming marathon.

* The plot of the ''Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' special "''A Chipmunk Reunion''" revolves around the triplets looking for their mother. The brothers want to know what their birthday is so they run away to look for their mother. When they meet their mom Alvin is upset, not believing that he loved her since he abandoned her, until she explains that it was a terrible winter when they were born. They couldn't survive the journey so she left them with David. She was gonna take them back in the spring but they were happy with Dave so she left them.
* Subverted in ''Disney/TheTiggerMovie''. The whole plot of the movie revolves around Tigger looking for his biological family and any vestiges of it... [[spoiler:only for him to discover that he doesn't actually have a biological family, and that his real family are his friends who have vowed to always be there for him]].

%%* The Creator/BenStiller film ''Film/FlirtingWithDisaster''.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf are listening [[spoiler: when Ashfur is trying to kill them out of jealousy that Squirrelflight chose Brambleclaw over him. Squirrelflight tells Ashfur that the three aren't her kits.]] Hollyleaf thinks Leafpool might know who their real parents are, since she was there are the time of their birth. Leafpool reveals that [[spoiler: she is their real mother, which is against the warrior code since she is a medicine cat and medicine cats aren't allowed to have mates.]]

* Taran's search for his father in ''Taran Wanderer'', the penultimate book of the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'' by Lloyd Alexander. [[spoiler: He never finds out, and realizes that it's not that important anyway]].

* Subverted in ''TheTiggerMovie''. The whole plot of the movie revolves around Tigger looking for his biological family and any vestiges of it... [[spoiler:only for him to discover that he doesn't actually have a biological family, and that his real family are his friends who have vowed to always be there for him]].

* The Creator/BenStiller film ''Film/FlirtingWithDisaster''.
* The entire premise of ''Film/JoeDirt'', minus the part where he was adopted. Result: his blood relatives are jackasses, but the friends he's collected along his search end up a loving family for him.

* ''Film/OctoberBaby''.

* The entire premise of ''Film/JoeDirt'', minus the part where he was adopted. Result: His blood relatives are jackasses, but the friends he's collected along his search end up a loving family for him.

* ''Secrets and Lies'' is all about somebody looking for her birth mother, though she knew she was adopted all along, the death of her adoptive mother triggers the search.

** And when Stewie hunts down someone he believes to be his real father [[spoiler:who turns out to be himself]].

* {{Defied}} in ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'': when she finds out she was adopted, [[spoiler:Taranee]] also finds out [[GenreSavvy her mother kept track of her birth parents in case she wanted to find them]], but in the end [[spoiler:Taranee]] decides not to search for them.

* The young adult novel ''[[{{Janie}} The Girl on the Milk Carton]]'' is about a teen girl that sees a picture of a missing girl on her milk carton and realizes it's her. She spends the rest of the book wrestling with the knowledge that her parents aren't her true parents, that she might have even been kidnapped by them, and that she has another set of parents that are looking for her desperately.

Should not be confused with StalkerWithATestTube, an entirely different form of gene hunting. Or with using someone's DNA to find them, as is done in the Series/{{CSI}} franchise. When handled poorly, this can carry a great deal of UnfortunateImplications in regards to relationships between adopted children and the parents who raised them (i.e., no blood relation = no love/not family). Has nothing to do with the GeneHuntInterrogationTechnique (or so we hope).

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' once parodied this in the episode where Heifer found out he was adopted. Heifer is a steer who was raised by wolves. Ultimately, Heifer has a dream where [[spoiler:his father informs him that he was abandoned at birth for being too much of a sissy. And that his mother's a car seat somewhere.]]

Should not be confused with StalkerWithATestTube, an entirely different form of gene hunting. When handled poorly, this can carry a great deal of UnfortunateImplications in regards to relationships between adopted children and the parents who raised them (i.e., no blood relation = no love/not family). Has nothing to do with the GeneHuntInterrogationTechnique (or so we hope).

* In ''Series/Forever'', Abe starts researching his family tree after he discovers his biological parents' names. He's quick to point out to Henry, however, that it doesn't change the fact that he sees Henry as his real father.

* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': Skye got involved with Rising Tide (and agreed to join SHIELD) partly so she could search various databases for clues about her parents. She knew only that she was dropped off at an orphanage by a SHIELD agent. The episode "Seeds" answered some questions about her origin, but raised a lot of new ones.

Should not be confused with StalkerWithATestTube, an entirely different form of gene hunting. When handled poorly, this can carry a great deal of UnfortunateImplications in regards to relationships between adopted children and the parents who raised them (i.e., no blood relation = no love/not family).

* In one episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Abby learns that she's adopted - and that her biological family lives within easy travel distance of the Navy Yard. She meets the brother she never knew she had, but never tells him they're related, never even sees her birth parents, and the whole matter is never brought up again after the end of the episode.