One example of how to do aliens correctly from the start is the Mass Effect trilogy. A lot of the races look like they could be painted as a "Bad Guy" race just from their intimidating appearances, yet we get to see both peaceful and aggressive examples of them. Sure, you fight a lot of Krogan, but you also fight alongside them as well. You get to see why they are a more aggressive race than others normally are.
In a work of science fiction, I always love seeing how different alien cultures and races interact with each other. Sometimes a work will come along that isn't taken as seriously and the aliens are simply painted as the "bad guys," which is completely okay with me when it comes to a simplistic piece (Mars Attacks! or Starship Troopers, come to mind). When a work does take itself seriously, I expect characters to be the antagonists in a story, not their entire race.
There are plenty of examples of this "Bad Guy" alien trope in many famous works of science fiction. In Borough's A Princess of Mars, its is very clear that specific Martian species are painted as evil, not individuals. This could be attributed to any sort of xenophobia that was around at the time this work was written, or even held by the writer himself. One of the only "Good Guy" Martian races just happen to be the ones that look exactly like humans on the outside.
Another more recent example is the first installment of the Halo franchise, Halo: Combat Evolved. There's next to no explanation as to why you should be attacking all the Covenant you come across outside of "Kill it, it's different!" Thankfully in Halo 2, the narrative provides an incredible amount of detail into the culture of the Covenant, and giving us the story of the Arbiter who the player can sympathize with.
Just about every Batarian you come across has a resentment towards you, but its not because "You're the good guy and they're the bad guy." It's because you're human, and the galactic council allowed Humanity to establish colonies on worlds that previously belonged to Batarians.
This trope is fine to use in a work that doesn't take itself too seriously, but when a deeper story is to be told, some gray areas in alien races should be shown. It helps build the world the creator is trying to get across, makes it just that much more believable.
This is a smart and insightful look at the representations of the "other" as the bad guy in speculative fiction and games, but it really only deals with A Princess of Mars fairly tangentially. It'd be nice to see you extend that analysis as it applies to Burrough's novel.
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