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No Such Thing as Alien Pop Culture: Difference between revisions
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[[Sub-Trope]] of [[Aliens Never Invented the Wheel]].
{{examples|Aversions, Subversions, and Not-So-Straight Examples:}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Robotech]]/[[Macross]]'' has an interesting example. There's an aversion with the future human society, since they still have pop stars and things like that (they're only [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]). But the invading Zentraedi don't have anything like that (although they do have a name for it in [[Macross]]: Protoculture); they are an entirely militaristic society. In fact, this becomes a plot point later on. The Zentraedi, having never been exposed to singing or anything like it, are rendered stupefied by a recording of a singing pop star. The humans actually seize on this and use it as a tactic in battle, making the pop star both a weapon ''and'' a morale booster.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* The Glatun and the Rangora, two alien species from [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Troy Rising]]'' series, have rich pop-cultures that include popular music, trash literature, movies and so on (the Glatun even have the same sort of advertising spam we get on their computer networks). The Horvath, on the other hand, are portrayed as being unimaginative to the point that their lack of a popular culture is [[Justified Trope|justified]]: they're simply not creative enough to have developed one.
* The [[Star Trek Novel Verse]] tends to avert this, for all that the TV series tended to play it straight. For example, the novel ''[[A Singular Destiny]]'' features a character owning a large collection of novels and comics (or equivalent) from Klingon popular culture - most of these had been introduced in earlier novels, only to be collected together here for [[Continuity Porn]]. In the [[Star Trek Deep Space Nine Relaunch]], a popular joke involves the crew of ''Defiant'' all reading their way through a melodramatic Klingon novel, and the same series introduced a Bajoran children's educational series, ''The Adventures of Lin Marna''. Meanwhile, in ''[[Star Trek: Klingon Empire]]'' mention is frequently made of the [[Narm Charm]] found in the politically-charged animated
* Despite taking place either on Earth or in a space military setting, the main ''[[Animorphs]]'' series manages to avert the trope, at least for the Andalites. In internal monologues Ax mentions musical forms from his homeworld (and that he hates Earth's), and that people who can [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|morph]] in creative ways (making themselves into [[Winged Humanoid]]s when morphing birds and so on) are bona fide performance artists.
* In ''[[Technic History]]'' much of the series is centered on the planet Avalon which is home to a joint colony of humans and eagle-like Ythrian aliens. Most of what we see Ythrians doing among themselves is rather poetic looked at from the outside. But then just being an intelligent flying creature is rather poetic. On the other hand Ythrians often participate rather incongruously in human activities such as going to bars.
* In ''[[The Keltiad]]'' by Patricia Kennealy, the descendants of the Atlantean Celts who had migrated to another planet have no discernible pop culture or even mass media despite their futuristic technology. The Kelts' culture is stuck in a [[Mary Suetopia|heavily idealized pre-Christian iron age]] and party entertainment consists of someone playing traditional songs on the traditional harp in a way that apparently hasn't changed for thousands of years.
*In the [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] franchise, Elves are simply [[Can't Argue with Elves|elven]] though wood elves tell jokes and have boisterous parties. Dwarves enjoy getting drunk as well as making beautiful things. The oddest part is men who are often pictured routinely speaking in [[Purple Prose]] and acting like epic heroes when they are just men. Hobbits, who are a kind of men, are mundane all over however -- as are Bree men.
**Orc culture consists of torturing people. Hey, a guy has to have some entertainment!
== [[Live
* The colonies of Man in [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the
** Subverted even further in the prequel series ''[[Caprica]]'', where various colonial subcultures (V-World, the Ha'la'tha, the Monotheists) were shown in great detail. 58 years before before the Fall, Caprican society was like our world now but on hyperdrive. Holobands were a good example of a realistic treatment of a fictional commercial application of [[Cyberspace|virtual reality]], though not without their [[Culture Police|critics]].
* The Minbari in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' nearly count as a straight example, but that's because outside of the Religious Caste, we know nothing about Minbari culture. However, most of the Minbari we got to know were either Religious or Warrior Caste, so the largely unseen Worker Caste may have their own separate cultural roots. Also, Minbari humor (not specifically Religious caste humor) is said to be based around failure to attain spiritual enlightenment.
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* Another ''[[Babylon 5]]'' example: the alien parents in "Believers" appear to come from a planet like this. Somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] as it's specifically mentioned their planet is backward and isolated and their contact with aliens is limited. They're not even members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' and afterwards: Klingon [[Opera]]. (And [[Shakespeare]], best appreciated [[In the Original Klingon]].)
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''{{'}}s Ferengi are the mercantile traders of the galaxy, so naturally they come stocked with holonovels like "Vulcan Love Slave" and other gems of the 24th-Century entertainment complex. Their children also collect action figures presumably based on a popular culture franchise, Marauder Mo (TM).
** Klingons seem to have their version of creole music, as performed by the Klingon chef in the episode "Playing God".
** Also in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', Cardassian "enigma tales" (detective stories) get mentioned a couple of times.
*** One episode also features Bashir and Garak having a debate about the virtues of the Cardassian "repetitive epic", a type of story in which the essential plot is repeated several times over [[An Aesop|in order to drive home a point]]. In this case, service to the state above the self, which becomes something of a theme with ''both'' characters as the show goes on.
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** Aslan have a fancy for decorated weapons and elaborate epics. They also have insult contests, bragging contests, and tall-tale contests. Recreational dueling (which often requires a ritual insult that the recipient ''pretends'' to be offended at) can be either an Aslan high culture or a pop culture depending on how the GM presents it. However their [[Proud Warrior Race]] ethos makes them one of the straighter examples.
** Of the [[Fantastic Racism|Major Races]] Humans, Aslan, Vargr and possibly K'kree are really the only ones to which this trope could apply. Hivers and Droyne are [[Starfish Aliens]] so it is hard to say what would be high culture and what would be pop culture among them. Among the Hivers the "topical clubs" might count as pop culture.
* In ''[[Warhammer
** Never any mention of ''alien'' pop culture, but that's because no Imperial citizen ''cares'' what the [[Fantastic Racism|filthy xenos]] do with their free time.
* Part of the background of the role-playing game ''[[Teenagers
== [[Video Games]] ==
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Alien Tropes]]
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