History Main / AlienArtsAreAppreciated

** The trope runs both ways, as Klingons have a particular affinity for the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, and often say that to get its full effect, it must be read "in the original Klingon." The single exception to this is ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', which is actively despised by Klingons. Whereas humans see it as the tale of two tragic, star-crossed lovers doomed to die, Klingons see it as a story of two children act like honorless ''ptaq'' who put "love" ahead of family loyalty and duty and thereby dishonor their parents.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren" features a group of aliens who refer to themselves as the Platonians. The Platonians had visited UsefulNotes/AncientGreece and admired Plato's philosophy so much they decided to base their society upon [[ThemeParkVersion their flawed understanding of it]].

*** The episode "First Contact" (not to be confused with [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact the film]]) reveals that it's standard Federation procedure to pirate a selection of entertainment programs of a civilization about to discover faster-than-light technology, to help them get a sense of what the race's society is like. One of the people contacted in the episode is quite embarrassed at this idea, and Picard admits that they give an "incomplete" picture of the society.

*** Played with in the episode "The Wire". Garak gives Dr. Bashir an apparently very popular Cardassian novel to read and Bashir thinks it's terrible (and from the description we get of it he's right). Meanwhile Garak reads Julius Caesar and is thoroughly unimpressed, commenting that Caesar should have known Brutus was going to betray him from the first act. This leads to Garak failing to explain the point of the "repetitive epic", and Bashir failing to explain the concept of "tragedy". Also in the episode "Distant Voices", Garak gives Bashir a holosuite program based on an "Enigma" novel, reasoning Bashir loves mystery novels. The problem with Enigma tales, as Bashir states it, is that in the end, everyone is guilty; while Garak believes the appeal is in trying to determine ''who'' is guilty of ''what'' crimes.

* According to WordOfGod, [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Prince Vegeta]] of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' has an interest in Earth television.
* It's unclear exactly how much exposure [[spoiler:Kaworu Nagisa]] of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' 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 ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''/''Anime/{{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''.
* This is the premise for ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove''. Aliens love human entertainment - specifically {{anime}}, {{manga}} and VideoGames - so much that it's become a controlled substance within the galaxy. The titular [[ManicPixieDreamGirl Nyarko]] is an alien sent to track down and prevent illegal smuggling from Earth, and ends up spending most of her time enjoying herself with all this Earth entertainment.
* Fafnir from ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' ends up becoming addicted to [=MMORPGs=] since they appeal to his love of killing and hoarding, and eventually starts drawing his own {{Doujinshi}} to sell at Comiket (though he fails to sell any copies).
* Happens, after a fashion, in ''LightNovel/TsukimichiMoonlitFantasy''. Tomoe and Mio, a dragon and GiantSpider respectively, absolutely adore Mikoto’s memories of Edo-period dramas and {{tokusatsu}} anime.
* Similarly to the ''Tsukimichi'' example, in ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'', the manga ''tankobon'' reproductions Rimuru produces are very popular.
* Ditto ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun'', where [[StudentCouncilPresident Ameri]] is a fan of “forbidden texts” (shoujo manga).

* In ''AudioPlay/{{Gallifrey}}'', a Gallifreyan collector of alien art asks whether the owner of a mobile phone composed that "wonderful tune" himself, when it plays the default Nokia ringtone.

* ComicBook/NewMutants and ComicBook/XMen supporting character Lila Cheney is an Earth-born folk rock musician who uses her mutant power to teleport interstellar distances to include alien planets on her concert tours.
* In ''ComicBook/ElEternauta'' a "[[RubberForeheadAliens Mano]]" starts ranting on beauty after seeing a coffee pot.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Nexus}}'', the strange sculptures dug up on Ylum prove to be tremendously popular throughout the galaxy, and command high prices. That's partly a result of the fact that the artifacts in question are made of unidentifiable materials. Also, it's not unreasonable to think that people might be interested in the artifacts of an otherwise unknown alien civilization.

* By volume two of ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'', Marvel Boy has become something of an alien hipster. He enjoys close-harmony girl groups and Nina Simone (who Norse God Loki also likes).
* In the IDW [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 G1]] Transformers series, after spending an extended amount of downtime on Earth, Thundercracker has become so enamored with a tv drama called 'Nurse Whitney', that he's started working on [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4663230.html his own screenplay.]]
** He needs to start looking online for an agent.
** Bluestreak likes human movies, and brought a few along with him when he joined the Lost Light.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Etta is fascinated by extraterrestrial culinary arts, and no matter how vile the aliens she encounters are she always takes time to check out their food and find some she likes.
* One issue of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' has the team's Skrull member declare a Starbucks drinks to be one of the finest achievements in the galaxy.

* In ''ComicStrip/TheWackyAdventuresOfPedro'', many of the more benign aliens Pedro meets have an appreciation for American media, including ''Series/GilligansIsland'' and ''Series/ILoveLucy''.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* Human arts are generally quite well received in ''FanFic/DiariesOfAMadman'', with the exception of Shakespeare's tragedies, which Celestia bans Nav from transcribing and selling after they cause a lot of upset.
* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Asgardians are apparently somewhat addicted to coffee, while [[TheSpymaster Loki]] enjoys ''Literature/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy'' and ''Literature/GameOfThrones.''
* Interspecies bonding over art is a recurring theme in ''Fanfic/{{Daemorphing}}'', whether it be the Paradox Family and [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Andalite]] thought-speech-singing, more instances of bonding over stories and legends than can be counted, or [[SymbioticPossession Tidwell and Illim]]'s shared appreciation of poetry.

* ''FanFic/MythosEffect'':
** Compared to the utter maze they had to navigate in order to master [[{{Magitek}} arcanotech]], the [[TabletopGame/CthulhuTech New Earth Federation]] is relieved to find that [[Franchise/MassEffect Element Zero]] technology is so much easier to get a handle on.

* In ''Fanfic/AvengersInfiniteWars'', as part of their time with the Jedi, the Avengers have used some of their multimedia devices to give their new allies a taste of Earth popular culture, including Scott Lang singing Music/{{Queen}} songs, Pietro Maximoff apparently watching ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' with Senator Riyo Chuchi, or an unspecified number of Jedi watching the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' films, all of which have generally gone down well (although characters express distaste when Spider-Man in particular compares the tunnels of Geonosis to the tunnels in ''Alien'').
* Features in "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3201344/14/Where-is-Hannah-Montana Where is Hannah Montana?]]", when [[Series/HannahMontana Miley Stewart and Lilly Truscott]] end up travelling with the [[Series/DoctorWho Tenth Doctor]]; one of their first trips is to the planet Celestros, initially home to the crystal spires of Celestial Music, a natural wonder of the universe that created beautiful melodies when eruptions from the planet's core and the blowing wind mixed with the crystals before they were destroyed in the Time War. After the crystals were lost artists and scholars host a yearly festival on the site where the crystals once were to tell stories, sing songs, and show off various works of art that could have been forgotten on other planets. After the TARDIS travellers prevent a man using a timescoop to restore the crystals (since it was drawing in Reapers at the same time), the Doctor helps Miley make Hannah Montana's cross-temporal interstellar debut at the festival to great acclaim.

* In ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'', human philosophies like free capitalism and Marxism become very popular among the working classes of the Klingon Empire as social tensions rise in the 23rd century.
* Season 2 of ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'' reveals that there's a clique among the Irken Empire that enjoys cultural artifacts from other species; in particular, there's a club aboard the ''Massive'' that regularly meets to discuss human comic books and movies, while the Tallest enjoy Earth-made snacks and video games. It's noted that this behavior is frowned upon (due to FantasticRacism), but isn't strictly illegal.
* ''Fanfic/{{Stardust|Arad}}'': Food from Equestria is apparently super-delicious to humans, which makes Pinkie Pie's desserts very appreciated amongst the Stardust team in chapter 20. This isn't just a case of Pinkie Pie being a SupremeChef, either; in an early chapter, Lana finds a piece of fruit transmuted into an Equestrian apple to be extremely tasty. Reviewers have commented this could just be because Army food tends to be bland as a rule of thumb, so anything tastes better after living on it.
* In ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'', Rokynians like Earth movies, to the point that there're talks of an interplanetary film trade agreement.
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/EnemyOfMyEnemy'', the Elites compliment Sarah on her artistic skills, and comment that artists are revered in their culture.

* Music/DaftPunk's ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem'' features a blue-skinned alien quartet who are kidnapped by [[BigBad Earl de Darkwood]] and disguised and brainwashed to perform for humans, who completely love their music and instantly make them a world-wide phenomenon. Their fans are not fazed when the truth comes out. It even turns out that many music legends, from [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Mozart to Jimi Hendrix]], are also aliens who were similarly kidnapped.

* In ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', the Thermians think the eponymous TV show portrays actual events... and base their entire culture on them. They have no concept of fiction, and up until very recently had no concept of untruthfulness at all. They learned about that the hard way when the BigBad introduced them to lies and deception, resulting in the destruction of their planet. Said BigBad watches the "historical documents" and immediately recognizes them for what they are, and thinks the misunderstanding is hilarious.
* ''Film/{{Star Trek IV|TheVoyageHome}}'': When aliens threaten to destroy Earth, it turns out it is because they cannot hear whalesong.

* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:
** Grand Admiral [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Thrawn]] uses his appreciation of alien art to [[AwesomenessByAnalysis get inside its creators' heads]] and come up with tactics to fight them more efficiently, ideally making them submit rather than be wiped out. In ''Literature/OutboundFlight'' he also demonstrates that he can determine the visual ranges of these creators and how many arm joints they have. Thrawn considers it [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]] the one time where he was unable to do that with a race and was forced to destroy them. Bear in mind, it's not the destruction of an entire species that bothers [[AntiVillain Thrawn]]. It's the failure of his analysis.
** In ''[[AllThereInTheManual The New Essential Guide to Alien Species]]'' it is explained that [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Zeltrons]], who are offshoots of humanity, write some of the best erotica. [[JustifiedTrope To be fair,]] Zeltrons are also a FreeLoveFuture race with empathy abilities, so it makes sense for them to have a good understanding of the subject.
** In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', an insectile species called the Vratix, which trusts its sense of touch over all others, has a role. Vratix art never comes up, but it's shown that the insides of their homes, created by mixing mud and chewed leaves with their saliva, are covered in intricate texturing, which seems to call up an emotional response in the human touching it. She likens it to a symphony, except that in choosing which way to stroke she could choose what to feel in what order. This fuses with function, since near the doorhole there are many raised bumps to evoke caution.

** One piece of artwork known and loved throughout the Star Wars galaxy is the "Concert of the Winds" on Vortex. A huge crystalline building known as the Cathedral of the Winds is played by the local Vors species, using the natural winds of the planet and covering up the windows of the building, playing it like a woodwind instrument.
** During ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'', Luke and Leia see a performance the alien Coway put on. Luke doesn't like their music, finding it wailing and discordant, but likes their dancing for its aggressive physicality. Leia, who as a former Senator is far more cosmopolitan, enjoys the performance without reservations.
** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: The Swarm'' has its protagonists visit a world whose natives are enormous insects who like gardens. The studious Tash likes the gardens and the variety of plants in them, while her younger and more tech-minded brother is bored. They meet a local poet who composes in "wingsong", which neither human can understand.
---> Sh'shak fluttered his wings. As he listened, Zak heard the soft ''skrrrrrrrr'' sound change its tone and pacing. By moving his wings at differing speeds, now rubbing them together, now fluttering them apart, Sh'shak created a series of intricate tones and humming noises. Even Zak had to admit that it was beautiful.
*** Then-captain Thrawn is also there and appreciates the gardens and how plants are arranged, but... see above, he ''would''.
* Ax of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is the only alien on the team. His species consumes food by absorbing it through their hooves, and have almost no concept of taste. Once he gains a human morph, it takes no time at all for him to become a SenseFreak, to the point where he once crawled around the floor of a movie theater, looking for "brown globules" (Raisinets). And his favorite television programs are "These Messages".

** In the epilogue, it's even stated that humans have begun trading with the Andalites: Cinnamon buns for advanced technology. It's so successful, that Cinnabon has plans to open up a branch on the Andalite homeworld.

** In the Literature/KnownSpace 'verse, the Kdatlyno "touch-sculptor" Lloobee is a celebrity throughout human space. The Kdatlyno "see" using sonar, so their sculptures are impressionistic masses with all sorts of interesting micro-angles and shapes that are pretty much invisible to the naked eye. Humans ''can'' enjoy a touch-sculpture by, as the name implies, touching the things. Especially if they use their much more sensitive tongues to do the touching...
** ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'' has an aversion of some interest: the Moties' color vision works differently from humans', so to humans the colors in their paintings all look off.
*** Sadly the subjects of the artwork eludes the humans. The museum appears to be uncensored with scenes of devastation and massacres but the visiting humans do not realize that all the information they need to warn them of what is coming is right there for them to see.
* In the ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' universe, several alien species are enamoured with human literature and poetry (including old science fiction pulp novels), because [[HumansAreSpecial the human languages present a high degree of ambiguity of meaning and pronunciation which is not present in the artificial languages used by galactic society]]. Just as many species revile human culture [[BrokenBase for the exact same reasons]], of course. Also, whale songs are considered an art form beyond peer by some aliens, to the point where once an alien ship once held a Terragen ship hostage until they transmitted several whale songs.
* In an obscure German vignette nominally set in the Literature/PerryRhodan universe (although that's not central to the plot), a Terran ship encountering an alien beacon that seems to broadcast an invitation to an art exhibition sends a shuttle to the indicated world. The shuttle crew (including an actual professional art critic) find the exhibition hall empty. It eventually turns out they weren't invited as ''visitors''...
* In ''Literature/IMarriedAnEarthling'', Earth's TV broadcasts are the subject of academic study on the planet Zeeron.
* In ''Literature/HaloCryptum'', one Forerunner assigned to guard the quarantined San'Shyuum homeworld took to collecting sculptures their ambassadors gifted to him. Subverted in that it's one sign that he's not really in his right mind: his old boss the Didact clearly isn't as receptive of his former enemies (though he likes their liquor), and his sculptures have crowded the command deck so much that slight changes will shuffle and shift them around.
* An ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' example can be found in the short story "The Grand Tour". There are very few intelligent alien species, only about 12 known ones in human space, and none currently advanced enough for space travel. One species which died out was advanced, and are simply known as the Alphanes. There are large crystal pillars that remain of their architecture which are considered quite beautiful.
* In ''Literature/TheTangledStringsOfTheMarionettes'', certain humans become so enamored by the local StarfishAliens' [[spoiler:[[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt epic]]]] ballet/ritual suicide that they resort to extreme body modification to make themselves nimble enough to perform the moves. As the title suggests, they only have limited success.
* In James P. Hogan's novel ''Literature/TheLegendThatWasEarth'', Hyadean films (which are mostly exercises in social engineering) fail to make a splash on Earth. Human films, on the other hand, are becoming very popular on the Hyadean homeworld.
* Creator/MurrayLeinster's classic short story "Literature/FirstContact" is centered around the dilemma of a human and alien ship, meeting unexpectedly for the first time, who can't possibly trust each other because they have no shared frame of reference, so they can't be certain that they're interpreting anything the other side says or shows correctly. While the captains agonize over this, two low-level crewmembers somehow manage to swap dirty jokes.
** The problem isn't that the two sides don't understand each other; ironically it's that they're too similar, so both sides know that the other will look for any advantage to insure the survival of their own species, even if that means wiping out the other.
* In ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' by Creator/ChinaMieville the character Lin is a khepri (basically a human woman with a large beetle for a head) sculptor. Her art consists of chewing colored sticks and extruding a resin of some sort out of the back of her beetle head's body and using the beetle's hind legs to form it into statues. She's commissioned by [[{{Transhuman}} the (arguably) human]] Mr. Motley to create a sculpture of himself.
* In Creator/RogerZelazny's ''Literature/ThisImmortal'', the aliens view original-formula Coca-Cola as humanity's second-greatest contribution to galactic culture. The first being a new and interesting problem in the social sciences, namely, what to do with a species who managed to ruin their own homeworld. (They also apparently appreciate poetry).
* Often in the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'':
** In ''Literature/StarTrekExMachina'', the government of Lorina has decorated its public buildings in a wide variety of alien art forms, most of them from the Federation. The public speakers even play Andorian music. One of the art styles on display is Tellarite Erotic Abstract (introduced in ''Literature/StarTrekMillennium'').
** In the ''Literature/StarTrekATimeTo'' series, Klingon Councillor [[SmugSnake Kopek]] decorates his office with items of art from across explored space. Among the paintings, artifacts and sculptures are those created by humans, Vulcans, and Betazoids--this despite the fact that Kopek despises those races (to be honest, he probably justifies them as "trophies").
** In ''Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra'', one book shows Enabran Tain, a Cardassian, admiring human stained-glass windows, while another Cardassian (Danig Kell) hangs Lissepian paintings in his office.
* In ''Literature/JunctionPoint'', a human and ktrit'zal swap important works of literature, and both are intrigued by each other's artwork. The alien, in particular, is curious about ''the Odyssey''.
* Played with in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/TroyRising'' series, along with NoBiochemicalBarriers: the Glatun traders, barred from buying the platinum-group metals they ''want'' by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Horvath]] warship in Earth orbit, buy a load of human artistic masterpieces (including, but not limited to "Starry, Starry Night" and the Venus de Milo). It's described as the equivalent of European explorers reaching various "primitive" cultures and buying the local glass beads and seashells. They are, however, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff big fans of the protagonist's webcomic]]. And while [[TakeThat Coca-cola]] is deadly poisonous to them, [[NoBiochemicalBarriers maple syrup is some sort of ambrosial booze equivalent]]. (They sell the masterpieces back, plus more computing power than in the whole of Silicon Valley, for a semi-truck load of maple syrup)
* Invoked in ''Literature/TheStarsAreColdToys'' by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko. Earthlings end up as a [[PunyEarthlings Lesser Race]] in a galaxy full of ScaryDogmaticAliens. As such they are restricted on imports of any pieces of advanced alien technology (primary-purpose usage only--the protagonist mentions there is a large supply of superstrong [[SharpenedToASingleAtom monomolecular]] string that the worm-like aliens they get them from use for their version of a C-section, which Humans are perfectly welcome to use for the same purpose, but not to build a SpaceElevator)--but apparently allowed alien art. Humans use this loophole to get their hands on things like decorative plating that is, conveniently, more durable than any human-made material. Hey, it's not a crime if you want your body armor and starships pretty, is it?
* In another Lukyanenko novel, ''Literature/LineOfDelirium'', the massive bear-like Bulrathi are BlessedWithSuck by evolution to have extremely-high-pitched voices. Certain establishments, however, hire Bulrathi singers as tenors, although you have to have a lot of self-control to avoid laughing at a huge bear singing falsetto (that is, if you care about your life). The protagonist also visits the Bulrathi homeworld of Ursa, which features gift shops for tourists, run by humans.
* Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series:
** In ''Nor Crystal Tears'', the Thranx, a species of intelligent insectoids, makes an alliance with Humanity. One poet notes that this development is not only fascinating to contemplate, but also gives him a new audience as well as we see him take a bow from an enthusiastic human audience to one of his readings.

* In the ''Literature/{{Retief}}'' series, members of the Diplomatic corps are generally forced to ''pretend'' this trope applies, even though it is almost always averted. It simply wouldn't be appropriate to ''admit'' that more than two minutes of Groaci nose-flute music invariably causes a splitting headache, or that the delicate interplay of shades of ultraviolet in a painting are outside our visual range.
* This is basically the point in ''Literature/YearZero'' by Rob Reid. The rest of the universe loves (really loves, 'like literally die from the happy' loves) our pop music. The problem is they also respect our copyright laws...
* One of the characters in Literature/TechnicHistory is Christopher Holm, a human scholar who is adopted into a [[TheClan choth]] of Ythrians and helps write a history of the founding of the dual-race Human-Ythrian colony Avalon (in other words the stories of Van Rijn and David Falkayn) and writes a translation of a Ythrian hunting song.
* There are no aliens in the Literature/VorkosiganSaga but there are [[TranshumanAliens genetically modified humans]] who have their own peculiar forms of art. Miles is impressed by the Quaddies' null-grav ballet. Miles and his friends seem to be more ambiguous about Cetagandian art, which is fascinating and requires a great deal of skill but kind of creepy.
* Averted in the ''Literature/ChanurNovels'' by Creator/CJCherryh. For the color-blind kif art consists of objects with bumps, concavities and varying textures which is appreciated by feeling it with your hands. For the stsho art consists of interior art and abstract paintings, both of which are done in infinite shades of white. This leads to the crew [[AccidentalArt creating a masterpeice of interior design completely by accident]] by painting a stsho passenger's quarters white and grabbing a random assortment of white furniture.
* The Tendu of ''Literature/TheColorOfDistance'' speak with color-changing skins. Their favored art form is qabirri, dancing to music while flashing bright, elaborate words in patterns. A visiting human is enthralled by a performance. One of her Tendu friends, seeing her watching, thinks unhappily that she's not appreciating it correctly--she's too new to their language to understand the fast-moving formalized words or the history on display.
** In ''Through Alien Eyes'' some Tendu visit Earth. Art forms with an emphasis on harmony, including some well-planned gardens, appeal greatly to one. He also takes a liking to improvisational jazz music and enjoys a joint performance with musicians, their playing and his qabirri skills together. A different one is extremely interested in Japanese plays.
* ''The Big Time'': The Place contains an "Art Gallery", a collection of art made by soldiers undergoing recuperation. Since a lot of these soldiers belong to various diverse alien species, the art gallery contains many exotic or bizarre (by human standards) works which are nevertheless appreciated for their beauty.
* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'', it's stated that few alien species have as wide a variety of art forms as humans. Many understand painting, sculpture, architecture, culinary arts, but fiction appears to be a mostly human invention. Most aliens think that using written symbols or live actors to portray something that is made up is a sign of mental disorder bordering on schizophrenia. Only the [[SpaceElves Lo'ona Aeo]] have figured out the importance of fiction and actively trade for all forms of it. One novel is mostly devoted to a member of a human delegation searching for someone who understands forms of art like this on the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Haptor]] homeworld.

* In ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown,'' it turns out that the one thing that almost all alien races (at least the ones with a sense of hearing) agree that humans are genuinely good at is ''music.''
* A tragic example in the third ''Literature/ALordFromPlanetEarth'' novel, where [[spoiler:the hostile aliens with a BlueAndOrangeMorality have been inadvertently led to believe that war and torture can be beautiful by human art (beauty being the race's guiding principle). It's not until the end of the novel that the protagonist ends up showing them the truth--WarIsHell]].
* In Creator/ArthurCClarke's short story "Literature/HistoryLesson", long after the death of humanity, Venusians are baffled and fascinated by the sole relic depicting Earth's civilization, an ancient movie. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:it's an animated cartoon, "A Walt Disney Production".]]
* In Creator/JohnScalzi's ''Literature/AgentToTheStars'', the [[BlobMonster Yherajk]] are ''huge'' fans of Earth's TV ever since they [[AliensStealCable first received our broadcasts]] (humans being the only aliens they've encountered thus far). They spent decades on their STL ship watching newer and newer shows (as they got closer). Of course, it took them some time to figure out a large chunk of them were fictional. They even thought that reruns were ritualized reenactments of some momentous events. On the flipside, their "tivis" are artworks made with sophisticated smells (the Yherajk mainly communicate [[StarfishLanguage by producing scents]], although some have learned to turn themselves into jelly-like speakers to generate audible speech for our sake). When they take a human to their "tivis" gallery, they are pleasantly surprised that humans are not only able to perceive but also like the smells. In fact, despite our vastly different biochemistry, "tivis" produce nearly the same emotions in humans as they do in the Yherajk.
* In [[Creator/StevenEMcDonald Steven E. McDonald]]'s sci-fi novel ''Literature/TheJanusSyndrome'', The Jeweler comments favorably on Shreekor's singing. To everyone else, it just sounds like yowling, but The Jeweler notes that it extends into the ultrasonic and is actually quite good.
* Played rather darkly in ''Literature/DanielX''. The alien criminal Ergent Seth loves American horror movies (even trying to direct a few himself), lets his minions play guitar music, drinks coffee, and off-handedly mentions watching ''Series/TwentyFour'' on his ship, but his EvilPlan is based on enslaving some humans and killing the rest; the arts of Earth are ''all'' he cares about.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheSecretSense": Despite trying his best, London [[DefiedTrope can't get his Martian friend to appreciate human aesthetics]]. Frustrated with London's condensation, Garth points out that Earthmen can't appreciate Martian aesthetics either. (Unless they're [[SuperEmpowering given]] the [[BizarreAlienSenses Martian senses]].)
* In one of the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' books, a human wizard tries listening to music composed by the Rirhait, otherwise known as giant metallic space centipedes. After listening for a minute or two she unfortunately has to stop and tell her Rirhait friend that the music doesn't resolve correctly to a human ear, making it uncomfortable to listen to.

* In ''Literature/LaszloHadronAndTheWargodsTomb'', wealthy socialite Areton Sarm possesses the largest collection of astroarchaeological artifacts in the Solar Commonwealth, a lot of which consists of various alien artifacts.

* In ''Fanfic/AvengersInfiniteWars'', as part of their time with the Jedi, the Avengers have used some of their multimedia devices to give their new allies a taste of Earth popular culture, including Scott Lang singing Music/{{Queen}} songs, Pietro Maximoff apparently watching ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' with Senator Riyo Chuchi, or an unspecified number of Jedi watching the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' films, all of which have generally gone down well (although characters express distaste when Spider-Man in particular compares the tunnels of Geonosis to the tunnels in ''Alien'').

*** The dark side to this is that some animals are abused to train them to paint just to make money. It can be hard to tell which animals are enjoying doing this benignly out of enrichment and which are doing it because they are being abused, but if they repetitively can purpose the same decipherable, recognizable image of something instead of abstract blobs, this is a red flag because this only occurs with some sort of training, which may involve abuse.

* ''Fanfic/StardustArad'': Food from Equestria is apparently super-delicious to humans, which makes Pinkie Pie's desserts very appreciated amongst the Stardust team in chapter 20. This isn't just a case of Pinkie Pie being a SupremeChef, either; in an early chapter, Lana finds a piece of fruit transmuted into an Equestrian apple to be extremely tasty. Reviewers have commented this could just be because Army food tends to be bland as a rule of thumb, so anything tastes better after living on it.

* ''Fanfic/AradsStardust'': Food from Equestria is apparently super-delicious to humans, which makes Pinkie Pie's desserts very appreciated amongst the Stardust team in chapter 20. This isn't just a case of Pinkie Pie being a SupremeChef, either; in an early chapter, Lana finds a piece of fruit transmuted into an Equestrian apple to be extremely tasty. Reviewers have commented this could just be because Army food tends to be bland as a rule of thumb, so anything tastes better after living on it.

** There is a cat that went semi-viral because she will meow and beg constantly until her owner puts on the ''WesternAnimation/TheGrinch2018'' for her, and she will set and intently watch the entire movie. She does this almost every day. This version is the only one she wil watch, not the [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas original cartoon,]] Or the [[Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas the live action version]], but she will watch some other movies and tv.

** There is a cat that went semi-viral because she will meow and beg constantly until her owner puts on the ''WesternAnimation/TheGrinch2018'' for her, and she will set there and watch the entire movie. She does this almost every day, and this version is the only one she likes, not the original cartoon.

*** The dark side to this is that some animals are abusived to train them to paint because it can make money. It can be hard to tell which animals are doing this benignly out of enrichment and which are doing it because they are being abused, but if they repetively can purpose the same decipherable, recognisable image of something instead of abstract blobs, this is a red flag.

* In Creator/RogerZelazny's ''This Immortal'', the aliens view original-formula Coca-Cola as humanity's second-greatest contribution to galactic culture. The first being a new and interesting problem in the social sciences, namely, what to do with a species who managed to ruin their own homeworld. (They also apparently appreciate poetry).

* In ''The Tangled Strings of the Marionettes'', certain humans become so enamored by the local StarfishAliens' [[spoiler:[[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt epic]]]] ballet/ritual suicide that they resort to extreme body modification to make themselves nimble enough to perform the moves. As the title suggests, they only have limited success.
* In James P. Hogan's novel ''The Legend That Was Earth'', Hyadean films (which are mostly exercises in social engineering) fail to make a splash on Earth. Human films, on the other hand, are becoming very popular on the Hyadean homeworld.

** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: The Swarm'' has its protagonists visit a world whose natives are enormous insects who like gardens. The studious Tash likes the gardens and the variety of plants in them, while her younger and more tech-minded brother is bored. They meet a local poet who composes in "[[BugBuzz wingsong]]", which neither human can understand.

* ''FanFic/MythosEffect'': Compared to the utter maze they had to navigate in order to master [[{{Magitek}} arcanotech]], the [[TabletopGame/CthulhuTech New Earth Federation]] is relieved to find that [[Franchise/MassEffect Element Zero]] technology is so much easier to get a handle on.

* While not alien in the sci-fi sense, there are [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_i_0?rh=i%3Apopular%2Ck%3Awhale+song&keywords=whale+song&ie=UTF8&qid=1274350917 hundreds of CDs]] dedicated just to whale and dolphin songs, so someone out there must appreciate them. What's more, paintings done by elephants sell for hundreds of dollars: [[http://www.elephantartgallery.com/paintings/]]

* [[http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090430_rhythm.htm Scientific studies]] have confirmed that parrots have a sense of rhythm like humans. A cursory search on Youtube will [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF7xTTvU2sM bring up]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bt9xBuGWgw a slew]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaOvUeqmIWQ of dancing]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTl1asCDOgs parrots.]]

* One study claims dogs enjoy human music, and while individual tastes vary it seems most [[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-38757761 prefer reggae and soft rock]]. Another study claims [[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/cats-dont-like-human-music-play-instead cats prefer music tailor-made to suit their tastes instead]]. These studies are very dubious.
* Sharks were found to respond to HeavyMetal music played in water in one study, but this is because they sense vibrations in water to lead them to prey. This study was misconstrued by social media to imply that sharks actually enjoy music, which is highly extremely unlikely. ''Responding to vibrations caused by music'' does not actually imply ''liking music.''

** The Narn and the Centauri each have their own forms of opera, equally detested by the other. Then again the two are at each other's throats all the time anyway, so this may just be simple prejudice. But human culture, especially humor, is generally agreed among aliens to be about as incomprehensible as the Vorlons. \\
\\
The Narn opera is briefly heard during the series, and apparently sounds like loud screeching. The human humor is considered odd by many alien characters, but others are shown to like it - they seem to imply that the Marx Brothers-style slapstick is once again the most popular form of comedy on Earth.
---> "Zooty-zoot-zoot!"

** In the first novel of spin-off ''Trevelyan's Mission'' series, Ivar Trevelyan travels to a HumanAlien planet stuck in MedievalStasis. He pretends to be a WanderingMinstrel and frequently translates songs and ballads from Earth into the local language, passing them off as his own, impressing the natives, whose own songs are not as well-developed. This is especially evident in love songs, where Ivar utterly dominates.