History Main / NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture

*** Some Narn, like Na'toth, are atheists.

Perhaps the biggest reason this trope exists is simple practicality. For a writer to explore alien pop culture, they would have to invent brand new genres of entertainment which could be unlike anything on Earth. Even the fiction mainstays--drama, romance, comedy, adventure, and horror/suspense--would still rely on social cues and cultural references that would be, well, alien to a viewer from Earth (It's a safe bet, for example, that a race with BizarreAlienPsychology would have a nearly unrecognizable version of PsychologicalHorror; If they evolved a fight-or-flight response that makes them reflexively spew acid instead of scream like ours does, then they'd likely have a trope called "Acid Jet Discretion Shot" instead of ScreamDiscretionShot). Even ''on'' Earth, what one culture considers entertaining might be seen as boring, confusing, trashy, or just plain stupid to another. Comedy in particular is ''extremely'' difficult to translate across cultural lines. Creating all this from scratch would be a daunting task for even the most seasoned showrunners. For this reason, it's much easier to vaguely state that yes, these aliens have their own Music/JayZ and Music/{{Beyonce}}, then move on without lingering on the subject.

Perhaps the biggest reason this trope exists is simple practicality. For a writer to explore alien pop culture, they would have to invent brand new genres of entertainment which could be unlike anything on Earth. Even the fiction mainstays--drama, romance, comedy, adventure, and horror/suspense--would still rely on social cues and cultural references that would be, well, alien to a viewer from Earth (It's a safe bet, for example, that a race with BizarreAlienPsychology would have a nearly unrecognizable version of PsychologicalHorror). Even ''on'' Earth, what one culture considers entertaining might be seen as boring, confusing, trashy, or just plain stupid to another. Comedy in particular is ''extremely'' difficult to translate across cultural lines. Creating all this from scratch would be a daunting task for even the most seasoned showrunners. For this reason, it's much easier to vaguely state that yes, these aliens have their own Music/JayZ and Music/{{Beyonce}}, then move on without lingering on the subject.

Perhaps the biggest reason this trope exists is simple practicality. For a writer to explore alien pop culture, they would have to invent brand new genres of entertainment which could be unlike anything on Earth. Even the fiction mainstays--drama, romance, comedy, adventure, and horror/suspense--would still rely on social cues and cultural references that would be, well, alien to a viewer from Earth. Even ''on'' Earth, what one culture considers entertaining might be seen as boring, confusing, trashy, or just plain stupid to another. Comedy in particular is ''extremely'' difficult to translate across cultural lines. Creating all this from scratch would be a daunting task for even the most seasoned showrunners. For this reason, it's much easier to vaguely state that yes, these aliens have their own Music/JayZ and Music/{{Beyonce}}, then move on without lingering on the subject.

* One episode of ''Radio/XMinusOne'' involved a scientist trading movie libraries with Sagittarians. [[AlienArtsAreAppreciated They liked]] ''Disney/{{Fantasia}},'' and send him a broadcast of their equivalent of ''Buck Rodgers.''

* In ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty,'' the gang gets a T'au cartoon show made of them, which is generally assumed to be a stereotypical {{anime}} cut with some WH40K and misunderstandings about how Imperial culture and humans themselves work.

* ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}'' features a race of [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe aliens]] with its own pop band, who are kidnapped and disguised as humans so they can be "the next big thing."

* [[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization 5: Brave New World]] does this to cultural victories. You can create works of art, but they tend to be the widely accepted works of literary canon, classical music and art. While the dialogue for cultural dominance of another civilization does mention pop culture, not a scrap of it can be found. Strangely, there is also no abstract art. Make of that what you will.

Perhaps the biggest reason this trope exists is simple practicality. For a writer to explore alien pop culture, they would have to invent brand new genres of entertainment which could be unlike anything on Earth. Even the fiction mainstays--drama, romance, comedy, adventure, and horror/suspense--would still rely on social cues and cultural references that would be, well, alien to a viewer from Earth. Even ''on'' Earth, what one country considers entertaining might be seen as boring, confusing, trashy, or just plain stupid to another. Comedy in particular is ''extremely'' difficult to translate across cultural lines. Creating all this from scratch would be a daunting task for even the most seasoned showrunners. For this reason, it's much easier to vaguely state that yes, these aliens have their own Music/JayZ and Music/{{Beyonce}}, then move on without lingering on the subject.

* One episode of ''Radio/XMinusOne'' involved a scientist trading movie libraries with Sagittarians. They liked''Disney/{{Fantasia}},'' and send him a broadcast of their equivalent of ''Buck Rodgers.''

* One episode of ''Radio/XMinusOne'' involved a scientist trading movie libraries with Sagittarians.

* In ''FanFic/SuddenSupremacy,'' Liara reminesces about a TV show she used to watch when she was little, which is quite similar to ''Literature/TheShipWho'' series.

* In a guest strip of ''WebComic/DraconiaChronicles,'' we get to see the climax of an episode of [[MyLittlePhony My Little Dracony: Togetherness is Magickal]].

* ''Ghosts of the Federation,'' an ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' fic, features a discussion on a genre of Mantis films called "Gladiator Dramas," particularly [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny the one that was the Trope Codifier for the whole genre but now feels stale to modern viewers]]. Rockmen go the "no pop culture, just the local answer to 'The Bible'" route, and Engi, being robots, have very little culture TO explore

** There are relatively few many mentions of what the [[TheEmpire Imperium of Man]] considers culture, and the few instances of it are things like only Gregorian Chant being the only thing broadcast between work announcements to the only channel on a space station. Though, there are several references to opera and plays, still very little in the way of pop culture.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'' tends to avert this, for all that the TV series tended to play it straight. For example, the novel ''Literature/ASingularDestiny'' features a character owning a large collection of novels and comics (or equivalent) from Klingon popular culture -- most of these had been introduced in earlier novels, only to be collected together here for ContinuityPorn. In the ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'', a popular joke is mentioned several times, and a minor subplot involves the crew of ''Defiant'' all reading their way through a melodramatic Klingon novel. The same series introduced a Bajoran children's educational series, ''The Adventures of Lin Marna''. Meanwhile, in ''Literature/StarTrekKlingonEmpire'' mention is frequently made of the NarmCharm found in the politically-charged animated series ''Battlecruiser Vengeance''. In one novel, Ezri Dax is distracted by her memories of a Trill nursery rhyme. The Gorn talk about the thermal sculptures they use as one form of popular art, and the Tzenkethi hum popular songs and ditties.

** The Minbari in nearly count as a straight example, but that's because outside of the Religious Caste, we know nothing about Minbari culture. However, most of the Minbari we got to know were either Religious or Warrior Caste, so the largely unseen Worker Caste may have their own separate cultural roots. Also, Minbari humor (not specifically Religious caste humor) is said to be based around failure to attain spiritual enlightenment (and puns). It's worth pointing out that because of the long-standing tension between the Warrior and Religious Castes, the Warrior Caste probably doesn't take things like myth and prophecy too seriously, and several episodes indicate they have a more secular outlook, though still obviously influenced by the few shared Minbari values (collectivism, sacrifice, honor) that cut across caste lines.

* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' mentions a few alien past-times, such as the Zoq-Fot-Pik's sport "Frungy". The Arilou are also depicted as doing something akin to fishing when in local time-space, saying that they hunt for *Ngnnn*, and when they catch them, they immediately let them go again.

* The Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse tends to avert this, for all that the TV series tended to play it straight. For example, the novel ''Literature/ASingularDestiny'' features a character owning a large collection of novels and comics (or equivalent) from Klingon popular culture -- most of these had been introduced in earlier novels, only to be collected together here for ContinuityPorn. In the ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'', a popular joke is mentioned several times, and a minor subplot involves the crew of ''Defiant'' all reading their way through a melodramatic Klingon novel. The same series introduced a Bajoran children's educational series, ''The Adventures of Lin Marna''. Meanwhile, in ''Literature/StarTrekKlingonEmpire'' mention is frequently made of the NarmCharm found in the politically-charged animated series ''Battlecruiser Vengeance''. In one novel, Ezri Dax is distracted by her memories of a Trill nursery rhyme. The Gorn talk about the thermal sculptures they use as one form of popular art, and the Tzenkethi hum popular songs and ditties.

* Franchise/StarTrek:

*** The infamous Klingon operas, which come up frequently since TNG. Some are suspiciously similar to conventional, Human operas, others are... special.