Filmography
The American Science fiction film entitled Evolution starring David Chucovny, Orlando Jones, Sean William Scott and Julianne Moore was released in 2001, in which the story started when a meteor fell on earth carrying alien organisms that evolved into more complex organisms threatening to take over the earth.
Relevance to the Field of Biology
The film features several significant facts about biology and particularly in evolution. In the film, the origin of life came from one-celled organisms carried by the meteor that felon the Arizona flatlands. The organism have shown remarkable rate of evolutionary change that only happens within hours. The single-celled organism undergoes the process of mitosis at a very fast rate and eventually morphed into multi-cell organisms and in a couple days into diverse complex alien species. This process is similar to the theory of evolution described in the field of biology, it is also apparent in the film and in real life that one substantial condition that made life to thrive on earth the presence of atmosphere in which oxygen is the vital component for survival. Furthermore, physical and chemical processes during the early earth enabled the sequence of the four stages of cellular reproduction.
Cells are known to be the functional and structural units of life; in the film the characters have observed how a single cell evolved into several organisms through the process of mitosis. The film mentioned that about the genetic base count of all organisms on earth, which are four. However, the alien organisms had 10, which allowed them to evolved faster than the process that took earth two million years. It is only rational that the film have mentioned about the process of cell division and other important facts that explains the origin of life. In fact, cells are the smallest and the most basic unit of life form that underwent million years to multiply and form different complex species.
The plot of the film was based on the evolution of multicellular organisms and colonization of land. The continuous evolution of the organisms in the film enabled the characters to predict that in a few months, the new emerging species will take over the land because organisms generally possess the natural survival instinct and land colonization is essential for the species to flourish. In life history on earth, land colonization of early species on earth is divided into four stages. The Paleozoic colonization took place when phyla emerged on earth, since the plant is terrestrial in nature, the need for oxygen-rich atmosphere is vital and it led to the formation of the ozone layer. The next stage is the Mesozoic era about 265 million years ago. This is when mammals, reptiles and birds began to emerge in various periods of the ear. Colonization at that moment is apparent as the need for sustenance is apparent among the species and when a land have shown abundance of food supply, it is likely that the invading specie would come to claim the land.
The movie had a particular scene where worm-like creatures appear in the cave where the meteorite landed, but the plants that emerged in the area appeared to produce own atmosphere for the alien species because they are not yet accustomed to our own atmosphere. At the later part of the film, flying reptiles cannot stand to breathe our own air, but the succeeding generations of the species have developed skills to adapt into the new environment. A good example of that is the evolution of primitive cells. Endosymbiosis enabled Mitochondria to evolve and the losing genes became necessary for independent life.
Evolution was made possible in the film through variation and mutation. At one point the single-celled bacterium have evolved into species with apparent consideration to its current environment. For instance, a turtle like creature appeared to have evolved from a worm-like creature into an animal suitable to thrive in water. Speciation is also eminent in the particularly the winged reptiles that mutated from the same mitochondria to develop an instrument of flight such as wings. Mass extinction and large number of species were lost during the last period of the dinosaurs. In the film, the largest organism as part of its survival mechanism captured different species. During that period in the film, almost all alien species were lost and died on the process. As a biologist, the movie appeared to have shown accurate depiction of the facts of Biology and each peculiar scene is accompanied with a valid and accurate terminologies used in an actual Biology study.
Works Cited
Evolution. Dir. Ivan Reitman. Perf. David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones, Sean William Scott . Dreamworks Pictures, 2001. Film.
Reece, Jane B, Martha R Taylor, Eric J Simon, and Jean L Dickey. Campbell biology: concepts & connections. 7th ed. USA: Pearson, 2011. Print.
