History Main / HumansThroughAlienEyes

'''Mario:''' Luigi, '''we're''' the aliens.\\

* [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/526471 Mistranslation]] is an interesting ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' piece describing the humans views on love and hatred from the perspective of the Alternian Empire.

** The fic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7278544/1/First_Contact First Contact]]'' presents [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a first contact scenario]] where an asari exploration vessel discovers Earth in 2034. It is basically fueled by this trope.

* ''FanFic/ReunionsAreABitch'': [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3546854/16/Reunions_are_a_Bitch The sixteenth chapter]] is probably one of the better examples out there, and could almost be considered an essay on the subject, if for no other reason than that it takes into account just how much raw data is being pumped out from Earth ''every second'', with many Colonial intelligence operatives commenting that they have no idea what is fiction and what is reality due to all the radio signals coming from Earth getting all jumbled together, not to mention the fact that they're being broadcast in dozens of different languages. They end up thinking at the end of the chapter that ''Franchise/StarTrek'' was a documentary, the Earth is infested with {{Kaiju}}, the Third Reich was the good guy in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and that the Earth is secretly ruled by an evil dictatorship that brainwashed everyone into believing they're monotheists.

** The [[KillerRobot Necrons]] think we're dust to be purged along with the rest of the galaxy, potential biotransference vessels, or nuisance upstarts with occasional strategic uses, depending on the tomb world.

** The [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Tau]] think we're somewhat fanatical, but have promise as a subject species.

* The part of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' where he visits the Houyhnhnms (horse-like beings) has heavy elements of this. At the end, when Gulliver goes back to England again, [[StockholmSyndrome he himself has started to view humanity with the same disgust as the Houyhnhnms.]]

** The [[OmnicidalManiac Necrons]] think we're dust to be purged along with the rest of the galaxy, potential biotransference vessels, or nuisance upstarts with occasional strategic uses, depending on the tomb world.
** The [[CombatSadomasochist Dark Eldar]] think we're [[ColdBloodedTorture fun playthings]].

* "Webcomic/{{Scurry}}": The entire premise of the webcomic follows members of a colony of mice struggling to survive through [[AfterTheEnd an overly-long winter and the sudden disappearance of humans]], with everything presented from their point of view.

** The [[OmnicidalManiac Necrons]] think we're dust to be purged along with the rest of the galaxy.

* In ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' episode, "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E51TheInvaders The Invaders]]" this trope is revealed as the twist.
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E22TheMonstersAreDueOnMapleStreet The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street]]" uses a similar twist, with a different setting and perspective, to comment on the human race and fear.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has this with the monster population in the underground. They hadn't seen humans in ages since the war between monsters and humans. Many monsters resent humans since said humans sealed the monsters underground when the humans won the war. No human had appeared in the monsters' world until several human children had fallen down the mountain and the player character being the most recent one on the list. Many of the monsters and monster history books that talk about humans see them as strange beings that can't express their emotions through magic like monsters can while many other monsters have their own polarizing opinions on humans. Most monsters are so unfamiliar with humans that they don't even ''recognize'' [[FailedASpotCheck that you're one]], and the ones that do notice have varying opinions that can either change or be reinforced depending on how you play the game (i.e. Undyne starts off with a negative opinion of humans, but you can change that by saving her life and befriending her). In the GoldenEnding, monsters and humans get over their differences and live in harmony.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has magic itself, which is sapient. For a long time, it was assumed that it had a flair for the dramatic, giving spells at the most narratively convenient moment and in times of intense emotional turmoil or being hammy... until the protagonist discovers that it is only aware of humans (or the world in general) through how and when they cast spells, and as a result big dramatic moments and intense emotions are ''all it really understands of us''.

* ''Film/TheMatingHabitsOfTheEarthboundHuman'' is essentially an alien wildlife documentary about, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin human mating habits]].

* In ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy Out Of the Silent Planet]],'' a Malacandran carves Ransom's portrait. When he sees it, he's astonished to see that he's been portrayed as a sort of grotesque dwarf with mossy stuff on top of his head.
** The philologist Ransom has to translate a soaring speech on Human Destiny for a Malacandrian audience; after his trying and failing to find words for concepts like money, imperialism, and war, the Malacandrians decide humans must be an insane race.

* In ''Literature/OutOfTheDark'', we get a lot of discussion among the Shongairi about how "perverse" the humans are. Their biggest issue with us is that we don't automatically submit to someone who has demonstrated great strength by [[spoiler:wiping out 2 billion humans in a single day.]] To them, the humans are either clinically insane or are utterly dishonorable for continuing to resist. It takes a lot of research for their chief psychologist to determine why: unlike the majority of the galactic races, humans are neither a "herd" nor a "pack" race. Our primary unit is the family, although the term can extend up to and including an entire country. We also don't share their ideas of honor, especially where it includes unconditional submission to a more powerful enemy. It also takes them a while to realize that the one human ruler, who has submitted to them (the Governor of North Carolina) has, in fact, been playing them from the get-go, feeding information to guerilla groups and actively sabotaging the Shongairi efforts. There is also a race of herbivores at the beginning of the novel, who survey Earth in the 15th century and are horrified by the mindless savagery displayed by the humans at the Battle of Agincourt.
* In ''Literature/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', the White Queen finds the human world odd (though it's unclear whether this is just her personality or all Materials think the same way). Since the realm of Materials is a world of occult rituals and nonpermanent death, where it's implied that '''sight''' is vestigial, one can understand why.

* ''WebOriginal/SolarWind'' is all about this trope. Its main character, Tav, was sent to Earth to learn how humans work.

** "Literature/{{The Deep|Asomiv}}" is written almost entirely from the perspective of aliens who first discover humans. They originally hoped to make contact, but were so disgusted by human nature, particularly the fact that we know who our parents and offspring are, that they decide to avoid humans entirely.

* Creator/VernorVinge's ''Literature/AFireUponTheDeep'' and ''Literature/ADeepnessInTheSky'' both have a bit of this. In the former, the HiveMind Tines are weirded out by independently sentient "singletons", and near the end of the latter, the Spiders mention that humans appear cute and childlike due to their soft skin and having to turn their head to look around like they never lost their baby eyes.
* The alien species in Creator/AlastairReynolds's ''Literature/RevelationSpace'' trilogy are mostly extinct, but one character, while studying a species whose ability to exchange body parts makes them seem disturbingly fluid to her, realizes that the "Scuttlers" might well have seen humanity's unchanging nature (or that of other aliens lacking their ability) as a kind of living death. [[spoiler:The Scuttlers' isolation, which bought them some time before the Inhibitors attacked them, suggests she may have been right.]]

* Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/AWorldOfDifference'':

** "Literature/TheDeep": This story is written almost entirely from the perspective of aliens who first discover humans. They originally hoped to make contact, but were so disgusted by human nature, particularly the fact that we know who our parents and offspring are, that they decide to avoid humans entirely.
** "Literature/TheGentleVultures": This story takes place from the perspective of aliens observing Earth in anticipation of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar becoming WorldWarIII.
** "{{Literature/Hostess}}": The four-legged alien, Dr Tholan, thinks we look like we should fall over (he is a HeavyWorlder, and on his planet, we would have fallen over).
** "Literature/InAGoodCause": This story features a short passage from the point of the alien Diaboli, who discuss the foul odor of humans and express hope that the humans won't insist on eating in front of them: "My cud will never be sweet again". To clarify; they are strict vegetarians who evolved from grazing animals, and that's how they feel about the idea of eating meat.

** "[[Literature/WhatIsThisThingCalledLove What is This Thing Called Love?]]": This story is a {{parody}} of a ''{{Magazine/Playboy}}'' magazine article on science fiction, originally titled "Playboy and the Slime Gods", where two alien scouts find the notion of sexual reproduction unbelievable and potentially dangerous (due to increased genetic adaptability), respectively. The one who did the research fails to convince their superior that it exists, much less that humans engage in it, and their kidnapped subjects are returned to a random farm.

** At one point in ''Legacy of the Void'', resident RacistGrandma Rohana comments on humanity's inability to communicate telepathically, finding the use of orifices for communication to be primitive. Artanis, on the other hand, thinks humans and protoss aren't that different.