Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''''Ax:''' And the coffee cup has a hole in the lid! No spills!''

 

 

[[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] as applied to aesthetics rather than physiology, or alternatively the cultural counterpart to [[No Biochemical Barriers]], Alien Arts Are Appreciated when [[Speculative Fiction]] depicts arts and entertainment made by one species as finding an audience among aliens. As for how likely this would be to occur, ask yourself the following: What human being would appreciate the works of a species that communicate by emitting scents, with the closest equivalent to a novel being a device that emits smells in order to tell a story, or a "sculpture" consisting of a single scent? Or a painting made by a being blind in the spectrum visible to humans but sighted in frequencies humans cannot perceive? Of course, there are also the psychological differences: What would a species with no concept of fate make of the ''Iliad'', for example?

 

Common in [[Space Opera]]. When done by an alien to humans this is [[Klingons Love Shakespeare]], which may be a result of [[Intrigued by Humanity]]; when done by humans to aliens, it may be because the character/group in question is [[The Xenophile]]. When this is applied to TV, it's [[Aliens Steal Cable]]. See also [[Humans Through Alien Eyes]].

 

* It's unclear exactly how much exposure {{spoiler|Kaworu Nagisa}} of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' has had to human culture, but he does specifically cite music as the Lilim's crowning achievement, claiming that it "cleanses the soul".

* A huge part of the plot in ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]''/''[[Robotech]]''. One major reason that humanity wasn't wiped out by their vastly more numerous foe was that many Zentraedi were interested in human entertainment and didn't want to see it disappear. This gets amusing when humanity figures this out and essentially ''weaponizes pop music''.

** On the flip side, the thranx are fascinated by the unparalleled flexibility afforded by humans' internal skeletons, and teams of human gymnasts and dancers quickly find huge audiences among them.

* ''[[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency]]'': Near the end of the book, Richard MacDuff is awed by the alien music he hears playing aboard a spacecraft, thinking it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard. When he returns home, he hears the same music playing. Professor Chronotis had gone back in time and given the alien music to Bach. And now you know where the piece of music "Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ," comes from.

 

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Aslan epics and decorative weapons are lovingly described in ''Alien Races 2'' however it is not said whether humans find them popular. However some Aslan ship designs are rather liked by Solomani humans and there were a tales of human warbands in the past who [[Going Native|affected the customs and dress]] of the Aslan [[Worthy Opponent|even when fighting them]]

***Despite being of a far different ''biological'' origin Aslan and Humans seem from a cursory overview to be fairly similar, though there is less variance in culture among Aslan.

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Karkat, who typically [[Cultural Posturing|derides human culture as primitive and simplistic]], considers ''[[Serendipity]]'' one of his favourite movies, partially because of its resonance with troll ideals of [[One True Pairing|romantic destiny]], and partially because he has [[Guilty Pleasures|pretty bad taste in movies]].

* [[Kevin and Kell]] plays this straight, with canines having a scented candle novelization.

 

== Western Animation ==