If An Alien

from another planet approached me — as they so often do — and asked the best way to understand human beings, I would say "watch the movie In Bruges about 20 times and if you have any more questions, take a number." (I really really want to use the word "allegory" in this post, but you'd think I was being pretentious. Besides, I don't think I've actually ever used the word allegory in any context.)