History Main / HumansThroughAlienEyes

* In ''Sin noticias de Gurb'' by Eduardo Mendoza, the main character and his partner Gurb are ShapeShifting aliens that are exploring Earth for FirstContact purposes - with their target being Barcelona just a few days before the beginning of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and in the middle of construction for the 1992 Olympic Games. Gurb goes first, shape-shifted as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_S%C3%A1nchez Marta Sánchez]], but when the main character remains [[TitleDrop without news from Gurb]], he follows, and details in a diary all the strange ways in which humans behave when compared with his own people.

* A recurring segment in ''Series/SesameStreet'' are two Martians who try to make sense of mundane Earth things they find. Sometimes they would consult their "Book-book-book" for help.

* Played for ''drama'' with [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5058 SCP-5058]] ("Our Normal Fellow Humans"). When they find the Foundation's been intercepting their radio transmissions, they send a message containing an unusual BrownNote that when decoded reads as a "Leave us in peace" message: "Seeing hearing you. Study needed. Let our waves go, fellow humans."

* ''WesternAnimation/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur2023'': Beyonder’s motive in the series is that he has been sent to study humanity - their activities and nature - to determine if they are worthy of contributed existence. He chooses Lunella for this purpose, having her explain human relationships and things like eating food.

** On the other hand of the spectrum, we have [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-962 SCP-962]], which ''[[StalkerWithACrush loves]]'' humanity and desperately wants us to like it. Its methods include building in imitation of us, writing and sending out books, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick attempting to either eradicate or make cyborg servitors out of all nonhuman life]].

* In ''LightNovel/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.

** ''TheAndaliteChronicles'' is a {{Prequel}} from Elfangor's perspective, and kicks off when he rescues two captured aliens from TheGreys. Having had even less experience with humans then Ax, a lot of his narration is spent on his view of us--being shocked and appalled when Loren takes off her "hoof" (shoe), puzzlement over what humans eat, distaste for our music, and so on.
** ''Visser'' is a [[VillainEpisode villain novel]] from the viewpoint of a [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerk]], Visser One. We're the perfect species for them to conquer in terms of biology, technological weakness and ''especially'' population size, but she quickly finds that HumanityIsInfectious.

** In the first season episode ''The Naked Now'' when Captain Picard cuts off Data before he can finish repeating an obscene limmerick being broadcast from the shuttlebay by calling security, Data asks if he had said something wrong, to which Worf replies that he doesn't understand human humor either.
** The episode "FirstContact" focuses on the aliens' view of their initial contact with TheFederation. The opening is particularly effective, as the doctors are trying to treat an unconscious Riker (who was in disguise and doing research on their culture), and gradually realize with a mix of awe and dread that none of his organs make any sense to them.

** There's also the TNG episode "Home Soil," wherein one of the life-forms native to Velara III describes humans as "ugly bags of mostly water."
* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Distant Origin" also uses this as its premise. Most of the story follows two alien scientists, who investigate and later directly study the ''Voyager'' crew, without their knowledge. Their initial reconstructions, based on their own cultural and biological biases, are very inaccurate.

** "The Way of the Warrior" has a dialogue between Quark and Garak (whose homeworlds aren't part of TheFederation) in which they use root beer as a metaphor to describe the Federation.

** In the series finale "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E25E26WhatYouLeaveBehind What You Leave Behind]]" Martok is bewildered by the refusal of the humans Sisko and Ross to join him in downing some bloodwine in the Cardassian Central Command over the bodies of a number of Cardassians. When the humans leave he asks himself who can understand humans?

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* A classic series of adverts in Britain for the product Smash featured a family of aliens laughing at how inefficient the process humans used to make mashed potatoes was. ("They dig them up out of the ground. They peel them with their little knives. They boil them for twenty of their minutes.") They then contrasted this with how quick and convenient it was to make mashed potatoes from Smash, a powdered starch which only required the addition of milk or water.

** ''FanFic/Article2'' is about a human spaceship crashing into Equestria. The story is told from the perspective of the Equestrians.

* Several chapters of ''Fanfic/SnippetsOfSirinShariacsLife'' are written from the perspective of Bella or Kurikara, two Honkai beasts given sentience, and often put emphasis on them failing to understand humans. This ranges from celebrating birthdays to the simple act of sleeping.

* Website/SCPFoundation: A pretty common theme :

--->'''Calvin''': Hidden?? Do you think he's scared of us?
--->'''Hobbes''': Why not? '''''We're''''' scared of '''''him'''''.
--->'''Calvin''': Yeah, but '''''we're''''' just ordinary Earthlings, not weirdos from another planet like '''''he''''' is.

--->Did you like [[BodyHorror the servants]] they were the BEST of the cleansed only the BEST for you Great Ones [[UncannyValley made like you form]] you assume here on a WORLD to clean to honor you do appreciate please please I will complete the cleansing soon and you can take me away in your ships of FIRE and [[{{Yandere}} I can love you and you will love me]]

* There's a ''Series/DoctorWho'' novel called ''Night of the Humans''.

--->'''Fry:''' Stay back, or I'll, uh...breathe fire on you!\\
'''Robot Elder 1:''' ''[whispering to one of the other elders]'' Can they really do that or did we make that up?\\
'''Robot Elder 2:''' ''[whispering back]'' I can't remember.
** In "I, Roommate," Fry moves in with his RobotBuddy Bender only to discover that robots sleep standing up in "apartments" the size of closets and that Bender isn't expecting him to live any differently. When they look at a human-sized apartment instead, Bender is dissatisfied until Fry shows him to a broom closet, where he expresses happiness at being barely able to move. By the end of the episode, the roles are reversed when [[spoiler:Fry finds out that Bender's apartment has a closet the size of a human apartment.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Human culture is apparently rather exotic and mysterious to the residents of the Isles. Eda thinks that ''deodorant'' is "human candy", for example, and tosses out several valuable objects, including a literal golden chalice, in favor of a pair of gag glasses.

* ''TabletopGame/PlueschPowerUndPlunder'' features [[LivingToys living]] [[EverythingsBetterWithPlushies plushies]] having to hide from the "tramplers" (us).

-->-- ''[[Film/SuperMarioBros Super Mario Bros. the Movie]]''

* Wiki/SCPFoundation: A pretty common theme :

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' takes place on Earth thousands of years AfterTheEnd occurred due to rising sea levels and features ApparentlyHumanMerfolk as the protagonists. In the first game, a Sunken Scroll depicting a [[spoiler:fossilized]] human skeleton has an accompanying note hypothesize that its small skull size relative to the rest of its body meant that it many have been a primitive and unintelligent species (which doubles as a TakeThatAudience considering the skeleton died playing a UsefulNotes/WiiU).