History Main / AlienArtsAreAppreciated

*** In ''Film/TheGuardiansOfTheGalaxyVolHolidaySpecial'' the whole alien population seemingly gets a great interest in the Earth festival of Christmas, wanting to celebrate it with Peter Quill from Earth. An alien band based on the Music/Old97s even performs it's own Christmas song (confusing some details though).

*** In ''Film/TheGuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'' the whole alien population seemingly gets a great interest in the Earth festival of Christmas, wanting to celebrate it with Peter Quill from Earth. An alien band based on the Music/OldSeventieNines even performs it's own Christmas song (confusing some details though).

** ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' shows that after now living on Earth, some of the Asgardians develop a special liking in Earth pop culture, especially the children. [[spoiler:Heimdall's son]] Astrid even renames himself Axl out of admiration of [[MusicGunsNRoses]]-frontman Axl Rose.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' shows Korg and Miek playing ''Videogame/{{Fortnite}}'' in New Asgard, with Thor even helping them by threatening their opponents over the headset.
* ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'':
** Talos takes a liking to a S.H.I.E.L.D. blazer, even wearing it in his natural appearance.
** Aboard [[spoiler:Mar-Vell's lab, there are various pop culture memorabilia, from a "The Fonz" lunchbox to a ''Pinball/SpaceInvaders'' pinball game, that the Skrull refugees have as entertainment. They're also dressed in human clothing]].
** The Supreme Intelligence admires and even dances briefly to a Music/{{Nirvana}} song in Carol's subconscious.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' as well as its two sequels showcase the alien members of the eponymous team growing to appreciate the Earth music contained on Star-Lord's Walkman and Zune. Special mention goes to Rocket Raccoon, whose enjoyment of the music becomes so apparent that [[spoiler:Star-Lord gifted him his Zune when the latter left the team to return to Earth]].

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Asgardians are somewhat addicted to coffee, while [[TheSpymaster Loki]] enjoys ''Literature/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy'' and ''Literature/GameOfThrones.''

-->-- "The Borderland of Sol" by '''Creator/LarryNiven'''

* ''Literature/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.
* ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'': Fafnir 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 (although he fails to sell any copies).
* ''Literature/TsukimichiMoonlitFantasy'': Happens, after a fashion. Tomoe and Mio, a dragon and GiantSpider respectively, absolutely adore Mikoto’s memories of Edo-period dramas and {{tokusatsu}} anime.
%%* ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': The manga ''tankobon'' reproductions Rimuru produces are very popular.%%How is this "alien"?
%%* ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun'': [[StudentCouncilPresident Ameri]] is a fan of "forbidden texts" (shoujo manga).%%How is this "alien"?

* ''ComicBook/ElEternauta'': A "[[RubberForeheadAliens Mano]]" starts ranting on beauty after seeing a coffee pot.
-->"Pass me that sculpture, please. In that neck's grace lay centuries of art. [...] Are men aware of all the wonderful things that surround them? Do they have any idea of how many inhabited worlds there are in the universe, and how few of them have flowered with objects such as this one? "

* ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'': Buck is informed by his uncle Frakkus that many species on Gallimaufry Station that are indifferent or even hostile towards humans and their affairs still attend their parties -- they're in it for the popsicles, humanity's great contribution to galactic culture. One particularly alien species likes to stuff and mount their popsicles. Even the other StarfishAliens think they're weird.

* ''Fanfic/DiariesOfAMadman'': Human arts are generally quite well received with the exception of Shakespeare's tragedies, which Celestia bans Nav from transcribing and selling after they cause a lot of upset.

* ''Fanfic/AvengersInfiniteWars'': During their time with the Jedi, the Avengers use 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, and 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'').

* ''Fanfic/AThinVeneer'' plays it straight in some ways, but averts it hard in one particularly amusing way, as it is hard to appreciate alien arts when said arts are multiple types of discordantly matched music being resonated through your ship's hull at painful levels, that can only be slightly mitigated by shutting down all communications within your ship. The [[Series/BabylonFive Minbari]] definitely didn't enjoy the sounds of [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon opera]] and Scottish bagpipes vibrating their ships.
* ''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.
* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': Season 2 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/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/KaraOfRokyn'': Rokynians like Earth movies, to the point that there're talks of an interplanetary film trade agreement.
* ''Fanfic/EnemyOfMyEnemy'': The Elites compliment Sarah on her artistic skills, and comment that artists are revered in their culture.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'': Grand Admiral 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.
** ''Literature/XWingSeries'': An insectoid 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.
** Some of the barriers to this trope are shown (sort of) in [[Film/AttackOfTheClones the second movie]]. According to some EU sources, those bare, plain walls that all the rooms on Kamino had? Turns out they were actually all covered in grand, colorful murals. It's just that you have to be able to see into the ultraviolet spectrum to notice them. [[note]] Note that the insertion of this detail into the EU clearly contradicts the intentions of the original film, where the bare white surfaces were obviously chosen by the film's creators to give the location a [[EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture sterile, minimalistic look.]] [[/note]] Similarly, another X-Wing book has a Gand character painting his X-Wing. To humans it looks plain white, but characters who can see ultraviolet comment that it's a work of art.
** 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.
** ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'': Luke and Leia see a performance that 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. Then-captain Thrawn is also there and appreciates the gardens and how plants are arranged, but... see above, he ''would''.
--->''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.''

* Creator/LarryNiven:
** ''Literature/KnownSpace'': 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.
* ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'':
** 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.
** Whale songs are considered an art form beyond peer by some aliens, to the point that an alien ship once held a Terragen ship hostage until they transmitted several whale songs.
* ''Literature/PerryRhodan'': In a German vignette nominally set in the setting (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''...
* ''Literature/IMarriedAnEarthling'': Earth's TV broadcasts are the subject of academic study on the planet Zeeron.

* ''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.

* "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 ensure the survival of their own species, even if that means wiping out the other.

* ''Literature/ThisImmortal'': The aliens view original-formula Coca-Cola as humanity's second-greatest contribution to galactic culture. The first is 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).

* ''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''.

* Creator/SergeyLukyanenko:
** ''Literature/TheStarsAreColdToys'': 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 wormlike 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?
** ''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.
* ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'':
** ''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.
** The Thranx poets are thrilled by the range of human artistry. In ''Phytogenesis'', a small-time crook who's never been particularly into human art sees a Thranx poet's spontaneous recital, spawned by the poet's reaction to seeing the man eat a fish, and despite the fact that the performance is whistling and clicking in a language he can't understand, accompanied by expressive gestures he also can't understand, the crook finds it amazingly beautiful.
** 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.
* ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'': 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.
* ''Literature/{{Retief}}'': 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.

* ''Literature/TechnicHistory'': Christopher Holm is 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.
* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': There are no aliens, 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.
* ''Literature/TheColorOfDistance'': The Tendu 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.
* ''Literature/TheBigTime'': 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.
* ''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 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 tragic love songs, where Ivar utterly dominates (the locals are good at happy or romantic love songs, but tragic ones are not really a thing).
** Lo'ona Aeo "castles" are incredibly beautiful and can be found on all the planets they used to live on (they've become SpacePeople millennia ago). Each is unique. It's eventually revealed that they used to house an extended family. Humans enjoy looking at them and listening to their windchime-like sounds.
* ''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.''
* ''Literature/ALordFromPlanetEarth'': A tragic example in the third 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]].
* "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"]].
* ''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.
* ''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.
* ''Literature/DanielX'': Played rather darkly. 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.
* "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]].)

* ''Literature/DungeonCrawlerCarl'': The people of the galaxy-spanning Syndicate ''love'' Earth's pop culture, to the point that a minor alien history program finds itself exploding in popularity because it's one of the few programs publishing information about Earth's culture. It's implied several times that most worlds have little to no pop culture, just a few nearly universal myths and legends that were seeded throughout the galaxy--stories that Earth is largely unaware of, because there was little need to seed ''extra'' stories into their culture. Unfortunately, the people in charge of Earth are the Borant Corporation, run by the fascist Bloom party. They kill the entire planet in order to create the World Dungeon, rather than taking one of the less destructive options.
* ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'': During Jasper's visit to the Youli homeworld in ''Fractures Futures'', he participates in the Union Song, in which everyone sings together with their minds. He thinks it's the most beautiful thing he's ever experienced.
* ''Literature/LaszloHadronAndTheWargodsTomb'': The 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 ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Teyla really has a thing for popcorn. She and Ronan, however, do not seem to understand the attraction of TV. Also, Nerus, a Goa'uld, is fascinated with such Earth delicacies as chicken, seedless grapes, and cupcakes.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** 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!"''
** While Human humor often relies on physical injury or embarrassment, Minbari humor centers on failure to achieve spiritual enlightenment, puns or inappropriate greeting protocols.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGIfH7to_LQ Centauri opera]] is also heard -- Vir and Londo sing a bit at the beginning of a season 2 episode -- and although it's in the Centauri language, it still sounds rather human. Londo later studies Human music and finds "remarkable composers" and "astonishing symphonies", but after a solid week of study cannot make any sense out of the Hokey Pokey. Amusingly, the Minbari he complains about the latter to mentions later that he had personally enjoyed the song.
** Ambassador G'Kar is depicted singing while he prepares dinner in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E05TheParliamentOfDreams The Parliament of Dreams]]". The song is from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta ''Theatre/{{Iolanthe}}''.
** In the prequel "[[Film/BabylonFiveInTheBeginning In the Beginning]]", Londo says that Human "art, trinkets, and eccentricity" were what got the Centauri interested in the Humans in the first place.
--->'''Londo:''' Earth is situated in a fairly uninteresting part of the galaxy. We'd never bothered much with that area before. It had little strategic or military value. Still, as a culture grows decadent, it becomes more intrigued by art, by trinkets... by eccentricity. And the humans had art, and trinkets, and eccentricity to spare.
** In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS05E22SleepingInLight Sleeping in Light]]", Vir mentioned that he and Londo heard some Pak'ma'ra singing. And that it was beautiful. As an example, WordOfGod says that in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jli3ruqWYlc "one moment of perfect beauty"]] scene from the Season Two episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E14ThereAllTheHonorLies There All the Honor Lies]]", the monastic singers were all Pak'ma'ra.
** Considering the culinary arts, it's shown that most species (who have an identifiable digestive tract) have their own unique range of tastes, but mostly can ingest the same things as other species. In fact, there's certain foods that 'all' cultures seem to agree upon. Specifically, every single known race makes Swedish Meatballs. While home world ingredients and names vary wildly, the taste and texture between them all are virtually indistinguishable, the dishes are interchangeable, whether it's Narn Breen or Centauri Roopo balls. There is no explanation; G'Kar comments that if anyone were to determine the reason, they would [[GoMadFromTheRevelation surely go mad]].
*** Vir, a Centauri, admits to liking human fast-food, even though Centauri aren't biologically capable of digesting it. As he puts it, he greatly enjoys the taste when it's going down; less so when it's coming back up.
* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Lorne is a native of the dimension of Pylea, which doesn't have singing or music of any kind, although they do have dancing. ("Numfar! Do the dance of joy!") When he finally went to Earth, he loved music so much that he opened a karaoke bar. He can also read peoples' futures when they sing. When he revisits Pylea, it turns out that singing causes excruciating pain to other Pyleans.
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor himself seems to appreciate human art. On the other hand, Romana didn't seem as impressed when they visited the Louvre in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]."
** He also likes their jelly babies and edible ball bearings (''nonpareils'' or ''hundreds and thousands''), but that could just be the GeniusSweetTooth talking. In the case of the latter, he's amazed that humanity are the ''only'' race in the entire galaxy to come up with such a thing!
** And he's a big fan of Creator/CharlesDickens, almost {{Squee}}d over Creator/WilliamShakespeare, and mentions having cried during [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows the seventh book]]. Though presumably, he hasn't seen [[ActorAllusion the fourth movie]].
** Exactly which aspects of Earth culture he likes tend to vary by incarnation: Two played Beatles songs on the recorder; Three loved tinkering with vintage cars and studying martial arts; Four was fond of classical music and Renaissance paintings; Five is evidently a cricket buff; Seven loved smooth jazz and vaudeville; Eleven spends a lot of time in museums and sings praise to van Gogh; and the TotallyRadical Twelve liked punk rock and fashion tech. He is always quick to point out [[BeenThereShapedHistory his own contributions]] to Earth art, though.
* An example that doesn't leave Earth: Lily from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' is having no success selling her abstract paintings (one trendy gay couple makes a purchase just to get the frame). When she throws them in the trash, they are found by a veterinarian who discovers that her work has a remarkable calming effect on dogs, even in the midst of operations. Birds, however, just didn't get her work, and would even kill themselves in efforts to dive bomb her paintings in hatred.
* ''Series/AlienNation'':
** One of the TV movies had Cathy moving in with Matt and decorating the place with clown paintings and figurines. It turns out that clowns are pretty popular with the Tenctonese, partly because they're so colorful, and partly because the Tenctonese have never seen anything like them.
** In the series, Cathy can't understand how Matt can watch something as violent as ''Film/TheThreeStooges'', and recommends a really great movie... ''Film/TheLoveBug''.
* Often played for laughs in ''Series/TheOrville''
** Bortus watched ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'', completely ''rivited'' by its [[AnAesop aesop.]]
** Heveena took quite a liking to ''Music/DollyParton'''s "9 to 5," declaring it the voice of their revolution.
* Almost every episode of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' - All the aliens love earth television, in "The Art of Dick" we learn that Harry can paint, the aliens like a number of human foods, and are seen to enjoy dancing.
* Lister from ''Series/RedDwarf'' apparently enjoyed reading Cat's books which were basically lines of scents, but due to his limited human sense of smell limits him to the cat equivilient "Dick and Jane". Granted one of those books, their holy scripture, was about him.
* One episode of ''Series/SesameStreet'' has the yip-yip aliens [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_trSIBCgF0 investigate a radio]]. It takes them four tries to find a channel they like, but they do it - one that sounds suspiciously like static.

* The [[TheGreys Reticulan]] ambassadors that were [[{{Area51}} stationed on Earth]] prior to the attack in ''VideoGame/UFOAftermath'' apparently had an appreciation for human art, and traded for it with small samples of their advanced technology.
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the Unggoy/Grunts have a black market built around human soap operas, sitcoms, and the like. This probably has more to do with them being tasked to monitor UNSC communications due to their superiority at learning human languages compared to the rest of the Covenant, rather than any fondness of humanity.

* VideoGame/{{Startopia}} has an interesting take on this, each race has its only sculpture (nine in total) and while some are universally adored others can produce a negative reaction in some races. There are also three piece not linked to any race that are liked or tolerated by all.

** Averted with [[LivingShadow Krobus]], who dislikes most movies due to his light sensitivity and outright hates "Invasion of the Shadow People" for [[FantasticRacism obvious reasons]]. He does enjoy black licorice, though.
* In ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuth'', one of the incidents you're investigating is an apparent vandal invading the famous Tokyo Records store and leaving albums titled in indecipherable script, filled with grating distortions. Via stakeout, you find that the intruder is a GiftedlyBad Etemon hoping the store will sell his music. The shopkeeper remarks that it's an ambitious new sound for the industry, and that after a couple of listens, she's starting to enjoy it.

* In a ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'' strip, curator Vanderbeam wanders into Jinx's quarters for the first time and praises the artistry in the crystalline structures he's decorated it with- whereupon Jinx mentions that he has the Cirbozoid equivalent to a human's head cold.
* ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'' shows how one can appreciate art intended for senses one doesn't have, using [[http://www.rhjunior.com/quentyn-quinn-space-ranger-0053/ a robot and an ice cream sundae.]] Said robot also states that Quentyn lacks antennae or electromagnetic sensors, but still enjoys certain sculptures made by a race that has both.

* Webcomic/KevinAndKell plays this straight, with canines having a scented candle novelization.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Vexxarr}}'' the Shipbuilders, gigantic starship engineers created by the extinct Mahakalosian race, arrive at Earth orbit and offer to build starships for humanity to help fight off a common enemy. In payment they demand an [[http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=092509 iTunes account]], since they are huge (heh) fans of rock and roll music and Oreo cookies. The humans accept their offer almost immediately, although a few later regret giving the Shipbuilders [[http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=060410 naming rights]] to their starships.

* ''Webcomic/TheSecretKnots'': In "Memory Weaver", Emiry, the robot-flea creature who works in a recycling plant on Earth after the extinction of humanity, goes to the human culture museum every day after her shift to read human fiction. She's especially entranced by the ''Memory Weaver Sabine'' series, due to its themes of self-determination and self-sacrifice, shutting off her body's audio-receivers so she can reread it ten more times without distraction.

* Generally averted in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': alien minds just work too differently to really appreciate each other's art.
** The To'ul'h greatly enjoy something called "polmusic", which is apparently political debate mixed with opera. Most Terragens (Earth-origin beings) don't really understand how that can even be a thing.
** There's mention of a [[UpliftedAnimal provolved mollusk]] that wrote a poem lovingly describing a patch of sand on the ocean floor. According to other intelligent mollusks, this poem is beautiful. To everyone else, it's just weird.
** And there are the transapients, whom nobody understands to any great degree anyway. It's believed that the Kedric Incident, in which the questionably-sane archailect Kedric for some reason kidnapped billions of intelligent beings and re-engineered them all into some strange bio-mechanical construct, may in fact be an example of transapient "artwork".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "Rattlestar Ricklantica", a random snake astronaut bites Morty. While Rick's scanning the snake's home planet for an antivenom, his scanner picks up a track of snake jazz, which gets taken back to Earth. Summer steals the track off Morty's phone playlist and plays it for her slumber party. She and her friends immediately declare it their jam as they begin dancing to it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' are not immune. The younger ones break into movie theatres to watch ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'', Hudson develops a fondness for television, and [[GeniusBruiser Goliath]] raids the library for [[Creator/FyodorDostoevsky Dostoevsky]].
* A variation applies in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon with Lydia Deetz's mother Delia. Delia's weird sculpture art is laughed at by the living people in the Outerworld, but it's a smash hit with the dead ghosts of the Neitherworld.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'', Carrot grows to love Earthie cooking, even watching an Earthie cooking show in "What's a Satellite?"
** Jet himself is a fan of [[ShowWithinAShow Commander Cressida]], the Earth kids' favorite show.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'':
** In the episode "Taking Charge", Anne introduces the Plantars to the show "Suspicion Island", a soap opera cross between ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and ''Series/{{Survivor}}''. Sprig and Polly love it to the point they're using [[PersonAsVerb character names as verbs]], but Hopadiah "Hop Pop" Plantar isn't a fan, [[spoiler: or so he claims. In truth, he loves the show to the point he binge-watched the whole season while everyone else was sleeping, nearly draining Anne's phone battery completely.]]
** In the episode "Civil Wart", Anne introduces the populace of Wartwood to the movie "Love Choice", a post-apocalyptic teen romance movie which ends on a cliffhanger as to which guy the main character Constance chooses. The rugged cyborg in flannel Hunter, or the sensitive hooded deer-man Alastair. The townspeople were so invested into the story and characters that the entire town of Wartwood was split in half in [[ShipToShipCombat a shipping war]].
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Grand Admiral Thrawn is a noted lover of the arts, and often voices his appreciation for different cultures...but he has next to no respect for the people who ''belong'' to said cultures, as he takes their best/most valuable art pieces as trophies (like with the Syndulla kalikori) before he either subjugates or obliterates them.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E03WellAlwaysHaveTomParis We'll Always Have Tom Paris]]": Tendi reveals that she's a huge fan of "Klingon acidpunk".
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Crystal Gems were created in the first place because Rose Quartz [[spoiler: (aka Pink Diamond)]] became [[HumansAreSpecial fascinated with humans]] and their ability to [[CharacterDevelopment grow and change]], somethings Gems were not familiar with. In the present day that the show takes place, the Crystal Gems are shown enjoying Earth customs such as eating, nature, music, TV, and the Internet. While Peridot is undergoing her HeelFaceTurn, she discovers a television show called "Camp Pining Hearts" and quickly becomes obsessed with it, to the point where she understands both the show and human culture well enough to heckle its poorly-conceived reboot.

* ''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.

** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': Knock Out likes his human vehicle form, and takes part in human drag racing. Later episodes show him having an interest in human horror films (he goes to drive-in theaters). PlayedWith in that he appreciates human culture but strongly dislkes actual humans.

** The asari are said to be the foremost exporters of culture among the species of the known galaxy. It also works the other way round; at one point, we hear that the elcor plan to stage a production of ''Hamlet''. Since elcor speak veeerrry sloooowly and preface all their lines with a [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry statement of emotional content]], since other species can't read their body language or inflections, this is one of the funniest moments in the game. And yes, the sequel includes an advert showing clips.

* ''Fanfic/{{Daemorphing}}'': Interspecies bonding over art is a recurring theme, 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.

** Yeerks, which are blind aquatic slugs in their natural forms, slip into the brains of hosts like humans to use their bodies and senses. Many are indifferent to all this alien stimulus and seem more to tolerate it to advance their goals, staring blankly at walls when not called on to act normal,

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Ax 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".
** On the other hand, he considers human music awful. All of it. [[FridgeLogic Even though almost all commercials, which he apparently loves, feature music.]]
** 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.

The puppeteer scratched idly at the floor with one of its fore-hooves. Beowulf ignored it, concentrating on the touch-{{sculpture|s}}. The exhibition was supposed to be some of the greatest works by the Kdatlyno sculptor, Loobee. It was an impressive sculpture, to be sure, but nothing really to write home about visually. He ran his hand across it, vaguely feeling the surface texture of the work. "It's not bad, but I don't know if I'd call it a masterpiece" he said finally.\\

** In the prequel "[[Recap/BabylonFiveFilm01InTheBeginning In the Beginning]]", Londo says that Human "art, trinkets, and eccentricity" were what got the Centauri interested in the Humans in the first place.

* ''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.

* ''LightNovel/TsukimichiMoonlitFantasy'': Happens, after a fashion. Tomoe and Mio, a dragon and GiantSpider respectively, absolutely adore Mikoto’s memories of Edo-period dramas and {{tokusatsu}} anime.
%%* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': The manga ''tankobon'' reproductions Rimuru produces are very popular.%%How is this "alien"?

* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E10PlatosStepchildren 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]].

*** After figuring out that Tamarian language is based on metaphors from their own mythology, Picard attempts to connect with Dathon by reciting the Epic of Gilgamesh. Notably, it's the one proper noun Dathon recites in the entire episode that is not from his own mythology. At the end of the episode, the events that took place enter Tamarian mythology in their own right.

*** Played with in the case of the Vorta, who apparently have no appreciation for any aesthetics at all, leading to [[CloudCuckooLander Weyoun]] asking Kira if one of Ziyal's paintings would look better if it were blue. Ziyal's paintings themselves are a somewhat extreme case, as apparently mixing Cardassian and Bajoran painting techniques somehow ends up producing works that are appreciated by both cultures. Possibly justified by her style being ''extremely'' abstract.

*** Garak is quite horrified when Bashir tells him the tale of the boy that cried wolf. He is appalled that Terrans consider such a violent and graphic tale appropriate for children. He also disagrees with the intended Aesop, believing the ''[[AlternateAesopInterpretation real]]'' lesson is "That you should never tell the same lie twice."
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
*** There's an episode in which a technically-minded alien race is entranced by the Doctor's singing, an art that they'd never experienced before. It later turns out they have distinctly non-human tastes in this department; they are impressed by technically hard pieces that have no rhyme or reason to them.
*** In the double episode where the ship returns to 1990s Earth, Neelix and Kes are seen thoroughly enjoying a SoapOpera they've found being telecast. The humans themselves actually relate to it less, finding it hard to watch a show without taking part in a Holodeck.
*** An episode depicting an ancestor of Janeway makes an aside reference to the fact that the Ferengi consider [[BigApplesauce Wall Street]] to be the closest thing in their culture to a holy site, despite the fact that the location is no longer used for trading.
** A ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode has the crew encounter a race of HumanAliens with three sexes. The alien captain turns out to be a huge fan of plays, going through Shakespeare and Sophocles in a matter of hours.

*** Sutra, a sentient android, is passionate about Vulcan culture. She has read Surak's texts, she plays the ka'athyra beautifully, and she somehow taught herself the ability to perform a MindMeld.

* The ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "A Day in the Death" had a music box/light show thing, which was explicitly the originating species' equivalent of music. It is primarily visual, but pretty.

*** 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!"

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGIfH7to_LQ Centauri opera]] is also heard - Vir and Londo sing a bit at the beginning of a season 2 episode - and although it's in Centauri language it still sounds rather human. Londo later studies Human music and finds "remarkable composers" and "astonishing symphonies", but after a solid week of study cannot make any sense out of the Hokey Pokey. Amusingly, the Minbari he complains about the latter to mentions later that he had personally enjoyed the song.
** Ambassador G'Kar is depicted singing while he prepares dinner in ''Parliament of Dreams''. The song is from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta ''Theatre/{{Iolanthe}}''.
** In the prequel "In The Beginning" Londo says that Human "art, trinkets, and eccentricity" were what got the Centauri interested in the Humans in the first place.
--->'''Londo''': Earth is situated in a fairly uninteresting part of the galaxy. We'd never bothered much with that area before. It had little strategic or military value. Still, as a culture grows decadent, it becomes more intrigued by art, by trinkets... by eccentricity. And the humans had art, and trinkets, and eccentricity to spare.
** In the last episode of the fifth season, Vir mentioned that he and Londo heard some Pak'ma'ra singing. And that it was beautiful. As an example, WordOfGod says that in the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jli3ruqWYlc one moment of perfect beauty]]" scene from the Season Two episode "There All Honor Lies", the monastic singers were all Pak'ma'ra.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Lister from ''Series/RedDwarf'' apparently enjoyed reading Cat's books which were basically lines of scents. Granted one of those books, their holy scripture, was about him.

The puppeteer scratched idly at the floor with one of its fore-hooves. Beowulf ignored it, concentrating on the touch-sculpture. The exhibition was supposed to be some of the greatest works by the Kdatlyno sculptor, Loobee. It was an impressive sculpture, to be sure, but nothing really to write home about visually. He ran his hand across it, vaguely feeling the surface texture of the work. "It's not bad, but I don't know if I'd call it a masterpiece" he said finally.\\

* ''Literature/TroyRising'': Played with 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, Art/StarryNight" and the Art/VenusDeMilo). 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.)

* ''Literature/TroyRising'': Played with 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.)

** After spending an extended amount of downtime on Earth, Thundercracker becomes 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]].
** Bluestreak likes human movies, and brings a few along with him when he joins the Lost Light.

** Some of the barriers to this trope are shown (sort of) in [[Film/AttackOfTheClones the second movie]]. According to some EU sources, those bare, plain walls that all the rooms on Kamino had? Turns out they were actually all covered in grand, colorful murals. It's just that you have to be able to see into the ultraviolet spectrum to notice them. [[note]] Note that the insertion of this detail into the EU clearly contradicts the intentions of the original film, where the bare white surfaces were obviously chosen by the film's creators to give the location a sterile, minimalistic look. [[/note]] Similarly, another X-Wing book has a Gand character painting his X-Wing. To humans it looks plain white, but characters who can see ultraviolet comment that it's a work of art.

** Some of the barriers to this trope are shown (sort of) in [[Film/AttackOfTheClones the second movie]]. According to some EU sources, those bare, plain walls that all the rooms on Kamino had? Turns out they were actually all covered in grand, colorful murals. It's just that you have to be able to see into the ultraviolet spectrum to notice them. Similarly, another X-Wing book has a Gand character painting his X-Wing. To humans it looks plain white, but characters who can see ultraviolet comment that it's a work of art.