This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.153.177.193 (talk) at 21:01, 7 June 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 21:01, 7 June 2005 by 81.153.177.193 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | It has been suggested that Aliens_in_fiction be merged into this article. (Discuss) |
In popular fiction and conspiracy theories, life forms, especially intelligent life forms, that are of extraterrestrial origin, i.e. not coming from the Earth are referred to as alien and collectively as aliens. Prime examples of how aliens are viewed are found in the movies Alien, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Signs, Independence Day, and War of the Worlds.
A peculiarity of this usage is its anthropocentricity: when humans in fictional accounts accomplish interstellar travel and land on a planet elsewhere in the universe, the local inhabitants of these other planets are usually still referred to as "alien," even though they are the native life form and the humans are the intruders. In general they are seen as unfriendly life forms. This may be seen as a reversion to the classic meaning of "alien" as referring to "other," in contrast to "us" in the context of the writer's frame of reference.
See also
- Alien abduction
- Aliens in fiction
- Invader Zim
- Invader Zim characters
- Ancient astronaut theory
- Black triangles
- Conspiracy theory
- Crop circle
- Hollow earth
- List of magazines of anomalous phenomena
- Military flying saucers
- Roswell rods
- Starchild skull
- UFO conspiracy theory
- Ufology
- Ummo
- Unidentified flying object
External links
Further reading
- Sagan, Carl. 1996. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark: chapter 4: "Aliens"