Why do the outer planet aliens need to be ugly? Why are they depicted as hideous beings in movies and books?

Question

Why can't they be tall, dark and handsome?

Answer 1

It's a plot of the government to make you hate aliens, so you won't be mad when they finally tell you they have captured all of them and tied them to a thingie and examined them (and killed them with no scientific or otherwise profit), thus not only empting the space from other living creatures, but making it impossible for any intelligent form of life to ever learn anything real about aliens.
Watch out, male-looking, broad-backed, broad-shouldered, small-bootied, paper-thin super models, they're coming after you!!
The most pathetic thing is the fact that they mess up EACH time, and can never collect any data at friggin all! You would think three bazillion billion bazillions aliens would be enough to at least gather some basic information, like the color of theyir skin, for god's sake! But apparently, they were not.
Well, see ya.

Answer 2

H G Wells' "War of the Worlds". The aliens represent the worst in man, so; they must be scary looking. It is the nature of the character. Star Wars and Star Trek go the other direction. Aliens goes the same direction only scarier. It is a question of agenda and target audience. If you want tall dark and handsome watch Starman, Earth Girls Are Easy, or The Day The Earth Stood Still. There are stories like that but they have more to do with sex than science fiction. You can even find porn along those lines. To each his own.

Answer 3

Both the theories of natural selection and teleology (the belief that nature acts toward an end) both state that the creatures which exist in a particular environment are the best suited they can be for that environment. Going from this premise, it follows that the "hideous" beings from other planets look the way they do because that is the best they can possibly be, given their environment. The reason they look "ugly" and "hideous" to us is because we are not accustomed to seeing beings that look like they do.

That is a scientific explanation. The more simple explanation is that evil, ugly aliens bring in more money at the box office.

Answer 4

Nobody really knows what they look like so they make them to be these scary things, when in reality, they're probably the next BIG step in evolution. Most have a rough idea as to what they may look like, but it's hard to say for sure. Although lots of different people describe them the same. Big head and huge eyes, little mouth etc. I read in a book once that they are us in the future. There was a diagram that showed the steps of evolution from a human to an 'alien'. Pretty neat sh*t.

Answer 5

Humans are in no condition to accept the fact that a form of life above their Mental Capacity exists in the Solar System or the Cosmos. Thats why they aredepicted as hideous beings in movies and books.

Answer 6

Because we are terra-centric. (i just made that word up) We consider our planet and its inhabitants to be the ideal. In order to justify this, we make others look bad. Same concept behind the hero wearing white, being tall, and handsome, and the villain wearing black, being short and ugly.

Answer 7

God made the whole universe which includes all the planets. Men in all the inhabited planets were made in his image just as Adam was, so all aliens must look like us.

Answer 8

Many books and shows have portrayed aliens that were
nice looking, and even sexy. But it stands to reason that if the plot is invasion or other dastardly doings, they will be portrayed as ugly creatures.

Answer 9

Most people think their bodies would be different to survive different elements. Just like a fish looks way different from a human. And it adds more to the story it is told in. People can be more imaginative that way.

Answer 10

Because what we don't know and understand we think of as ugly or just not attractive. We do people around us the same way. I mean who determines what is ugly?