How can you portray an alien people? Whether it be a fantasy society, or a sentient kind from another world in some universe or other? It's something that's been around since people were making up stories of otherness. From the tales of fae and deities, to modern twists on other peoples and cultures in science fiction narratives, it's difficult to find any kind of approach that can really be called 'alien'.
The most basic problem is that many can't easily see outside their preconceptions of what is a sentient being. Our only examples are Earth-based fauna, specifically a certain hybrid bipedal primate which has reached every continent on Earth, is now one of the most populous mammals on the planet, and has an unusually complex society which splinters across abstract boundaries and esoteric concepts. I mean humans, of course. Some are more obvious than others, like octopuses which have proven problem-solving abilities, or dogs and cats which can understand elements of speech and even hold conversations to a degree. But others like just fish, or insects, or rodents, when used it's almost like a conscious subversion of the norm. It's easier with fantasies, as there's a greater level of fantastical license to draw on, but science fiction's always quite tricky. See any episode of Star Trek or Star Wars to see how difficult it is to break away from the humanoid norm.
The second problem, which is often both encountered and worked around in fantasy, is how much of real-world developments to incorporate into the fiction. Of course, nothing's entirely new in fiction, just a rearrangement of what's already happened. But if you want to create something about a large pantheon, do you mix and match or mimic a specific religion from the ancient past? When you create something about a spirit or fairy, do you risk accusations of cultural appropriation, or change enough that it's more of a homage than direct use? This issue particularly arises with both living religions such as Christianity or Hinduism, and still-living folklore traditions such as those of the Native American nations. The same problem applies to social structure, living conditions, and any kind of interpersonal culture. And that's before you get to reproduction!
There is a third, more insidious problem that's been pointed out in stories such as Avatar and Bright, which had respective alien and fantasy peoples based very explicitly on ethnic minorities. Minorities, what's more, that have deeply engrained but also deeply harmful social stereotypes that these stories encouraged rather than downplayed. While many stories show the normal encountering the unusual, leading to a natural feeling of otherness, many stories have an outward sense of integration, or at least coexistence. So when stories use real-world parallels, they can encourage the kind of behaviour that is supposed to be wrong in reality, simply through reinforcement of a toxic image. Racism is senseless, meaningless, and based on a groundless prejudice. By creating specific others based on these groups, we don't break down barriers, we reinforce them.
Now, I'm not above these problems. I've had to face them, succumbed to them, and had to rethink a story to get round them. But at least I recognise them, where many other authors might not even realise it. For all those who read Tolkien's Middle Earth only for its surface narrative without seeing the deeper cultural mingling and openness he demonstrates, who were bamboozled by Ursula le Guin's approach to science fiction. I ask this. Next time you read a book, look at the story and think; "I wonder where I could find a parallel to this?" And if you can't find it, that's the mark of a true author.
