Okay, this is a pointless posting, but at least I brought it here, shielded from the burning eyes of Cecil. I’m a fan of Star Trek and the SciFi like, and there’s something that struck me. In the show, when a clearly non-human alien is featured, none of the characters stare or gawk, and actually, neither do I. It all seems so normal. But I wonder if that is just because of the context? Maybe it really is as Tommy Lee Jones said in MIB, “A person is smart, people are dumb.” I paraphrase, but I hope you get the point.
Maybe you and I don’t do a double-take because the aliens are humanoid in form; they just have different skin coloring, bony skull projections, pointy ears, etc. On some deep-down level it may be that we generally envision them as being somewhat like us because anything else is hard to imagine. But for TV and film, I think it’s been more of a practical matter until very recently; you needed a human actor in makeup for extended scenes, because the technology didn’t exist for you to portray, say, a convincing man-sized amoeba. (This is not a problem for cartoons, obviously; the old Star Trek cartoons had some decidedly non-humanoid characters, although most aliens were still humanoid.) In the aftermath of Jar-Jar Binks, I’d expect to see a lot more bizarre-looking aliens cropping up - and you and I will gawk like tourists at the base of the Empire State Building.
If I’m reading the OP right, I’d say it’s indeed the context.
If you ran into a Klingon or a Bajoran walking down your street, you’d do a double take. That’s just freakin’ weird.
If you’re watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, or happen to live within that universe, you’re going to expect to see Worf, or Kira Neris, so you’re not going to gawk, unless they appear at an unexpected time. (For example, they walk into Ops, when you thought they were on a Runabout in the Gamma Quadrant.)
Even if the alien’s novel to you, chances are you’re not going to do much of a doubletake (unless the alien has a particularly interesting feature), since you’re used to seeing novel creatures every so often.
Wow, I’m a geek…
Eschew Obfuscation
On the other hand, if a Horta oozed onto screen during an episode of Dawson’s Creek, I bet we’d all be surprised and dismayed…
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
Wait a minute… You mean it hasn’t?
A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without bricks tied to its head.
Dionne Warwick is an alien in human form and we all don’t stare or gawk…oh wait a minute…sorry, my mistake. Carry on.
Mt. Dew habit kicked since 2/21/00!
Haven’t there been scenes in movies about this?
Like in ST3:SFS, when McCoy is in the bar looking for a ride to the Genesis planet, doesn’t he mouth off about the strange ears that guy has?
Think Star Wars - I think Luke was a bit gawky when he entered the cantina.
It’s context. If you are used to seeing people with bizarre nose ridges all the time, blue skin, or whatever, then it doesn’t seem out of place, you just accept it.
Or it could be a subtle object lesson in accepting people for who they are and not pre-judging on appearances. Maybe the point is that in the 24th century (or other arbitrary time in the future) people have grown beyond their petty gawkatude. (Struggling to find the right word. Decided to just make one up and move on. You understand what I mean.)
And by the way, I find myself staring a little too intently at some of the aliens sometimes. They are rather interesting in their diversity, when they’re not just another human with funny nose ridges. And then there’s the ones that have a strange mix of appeal and repulsion, like Lursa and Betor.