Another one of those nonsensical ideas.

[raisedbymoogles]

So. Say you're putting together a "Humans 101" curriculum for fresh-off-the-shuttle Autobots. You want to give a simple overview of what we're like and what to expect, and not traumatize them too much in the process. What media - books, movies, music, etc. - do you include?

Personally, I'm fond of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but I don't think Ultra

Comments

[seiberwing]

A fashion TV show clip.

The Autobots are going to need to understand the concept of clothes and why they're important.

[seiberwing]

Oh, and hair shape.

One of my private headcanons is that Autobots have a lot of trouble telling humans apart. They go by color and shape rather than shape, and when humans change clothes daily and get haircuts on a regular basis it throws them off.

[artoni]

Color and shape makes total sense to me; with the lack of changes in colors, if nothing else, through their own culture, it'd certainly take some getting used to ours!

[raisedbymoogles]

I have had the same thot! I try to tell them that, dude, they can turn into vehicles, but they still bitch about clothes and haircuts.

[artoni]

[raisedbymoogles]

Jon Stewart has clearly already thought of this.

[artoni]

I think we should make him official ambassador to alien life forms.

[raisedbymoogles]

The alien life forms would either firebomb us or make us their gods.

[beckyh2112]

I suppose the pop-culture overview is for "Humans 201: We Live in America". <3

... No, all the movies I can think of qualify as "definitely not what humans are like at all". Ooooh! We could show them episodes of NCIS! That's got a good overview of various human personality-types and team interactions, and the instructor can note that while crime-investigation and the Navy does work something like this, they are also fictionalized for the sake of the stories.

[raisedbymoogles]

*snrk* Well, it'd be nice to get a sampling of literature from around the world. It's just that absurd pop culture seems to be America's main product.

...I actually like that idea. :D

[phoenix_anca]

A dictionary and encyclopedia or two to reference, with the caveat that they aren't perfect. :p Children's programming to show how children are raised and how they are different from adults?

I'm not sure what particular works would work, since anything would have cultural references, concepts that humans or some humans would have grown up with and which likely wouldn't make much sense to an alien. A lot of time could be spent covering those concepts and that might not stay to 101 stuff....

[raisedbymoogles]

...it'd be adorable to show them Sesame Street. XD

Well, you'd have to skim over a lot of stuff, of course. There's just far too much to wade through otherwise, and frankly I don't think their attention spans could handle it.

[drharper]

Sesame Street! Picture their reaction to the Yip-Yip aliens. :D

[raisedbymoogles]

Picture the higher-ups' reaction to the newbies' constantly imitating the Yip-Yip aliens. ;D

[oasis_pink_peng]

Get some sociology books.

While figuring out what they are like is important, the average autobot needs to know WHY they are like that, too. Knowing that there are some sociological similarities is a GOOD thing, it'll help them relate to the humans better and not be as afraid.

[raisedbymoogles]

Good idea! It definitely helps that both Autobots and humans are a social species, yes?