movies/tv Why can't my generation and the new generation watch black and white movies?

[Lexamena 391]

I don't like B&W movies and but not because of the lack of color but because of the acting and storytelling style. With the exception of Psycho and many of the Twilight Zone episodes. And Three Stooges, I know not movies but still much more enjoyable than most B&W films.

[Moony the Cat 3,695]

I think the better question is why would you watch a movie in black and white when you can watch a movie in colour?

 

 

Well, there is a really easy Explanation to that.

 

You simply cant. 

Some Movies, some storylines just exist in their Black and White forms. Not every single Black and White movie, got a color remake or a color restoration.

And some black and white movies, have unique storys of their own, that simply dont exist in a color edition.

 

If i want to watch the original Psycho ( often considered the first slasher movie ), i have no choice than to watch the black and white version.

I know, that a color version exist, but considering the high amount of dislikes and hate toward the color remake, i think i should watch the black and white version 

Also, even some modern movies use Black and White as a film technique, to make the film feel, like it is from a very old time period.

I mean, Sin City is a great example, the movie is not complete black and white, but still, because the film is mostly black and white it just looks way more interesting, since for todays standard, thats a very rare way to present your movie.

It just looks very stylish.   ( well, at least for me  )

Edited November 6, 2015 by Smile.Pony

[Pulse Wave 44]

Some Movies, some storylines just exist in their Black and White forms. Not every single Black and White movie, got a color remake or a color restoration.

And some black and white movies, have unique storys of their own, that simply dont exist in a color edition.

 

If i want to watch the original Psycho ( often considered the first slasher movie ), i have no choice than to watch the black and white version.

That's it. There are many black & white movies that will probably never be remade and that simply cannot be remade in a way that appeals to today's audiences. Apart from a cool and dramatic dark backstory for the protagonist, it has to be a $300,000,000 block-buster with huge explosions and absurd camera movements which are only possible because the entire set is CGI (even the Matrix trilogy is boring by today's standards), of course produced in 3-D 4K ultra high definition with at least 11.3 surround sound. And once 8K is available, 4K will be low-tech from yesteryear that nobody wants to see anymore.

 

However, the stories told in black & white days have no need for over-the-top special effects. Guess that's what makes b&w movies unappealing to young people, too, if they've been brought up on block-busters based on DC and Marvel comics.

 

Besides, many stories from back then wouldn't even work anymore today. A remake of It's a Wonderful Life might still work today, as would a remake of Hitchcock's The Birds which would also give the CGI SFX department something to do because you don't need real birds anymore today (even if some would criticise the lack of gore).

 

Casablanca is trickier, not only because it will forever be associated with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, but because I don't think that today's Hollywood can produce something with the same feeling anymore. You can't update it either, because what'd happen if you did is Barb Wire with Pamela Anderson.

 

Or Metropolis. Futuristic as it may have been in the late 1920s, I can't see it being transferred to almost 90 years later. You cannot make this story work in 2015, nor can you modernise it while taking care that it's still clearly Metropolis.

 

Or take the German cult classic Die Feuerzangenbowle from 1944 (which is a remake of a 10-year-older film already, also starring Heinz Rühmann). Try to remake it so that it appeals to Fack Ju Göhte's audience. The truth is that you cannot make a film about prankster pupils anymore. A couple decades ago, school pranks were considered good fun. Today they tend to involve police investigations and court cases, and if they don't, today's pupils will consider them old-fashioned and boring. By the way, this film did get yet another remake in the 1950s, but nobody cares, and everyone sticks to the 1944 black & white version.

 

For many classics, the entire setting is important for their overall feel, and that includes the era in which they take place. This is why you cannot remake those old Edgar Wallace flicks and upgrade them to 2015's England (or better yet, 2015's USA so that the huge US audience can relate to them and understand what the actors say).

 

In fact, all this also applies to many colour movies from decades ago which I guess are unwatchable for a younger audience today because they're so grainy and noisy and low-res. But even then you have settings and stories that won't translate to 2015.

[Jokuc 8,172]

Yup yup. I agree with OP. Whenever I hear someone saying that a film is bad because it's old, it makes me want to punch them in the face. Well not really hah, but it is extremely aggravating to me.

 

I'm not a fan of black and white movies

 

This kind of statement works though. I try to differ between "good movies" (movies that are well made) and "appreciated movies" (movies that you personally enjoy). When someone says that they don't like an old film because of X reason, I'm usually fine with it. Movie enthusiasts (such as myself) tend to look at movies in another way and therefore be able to appreciate old films as well. However, when someone says that an old film is bad and uses "it's old" or "there's no color" or "there's no vfx", etc as an argument, I lose my shit.

 

As you may have guessed, I do watch a lot of old movies myself (the oldest one I have seen is from 1902) and some of my favorites are black and white. Take "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946) for example, how could someone possibly dislike that film? It's perfect in so many ways..

 

I don't really know why so many people are against old stuff. It probably has to do with that what people look for in a film has changed. I also believe that it has to do with the fact that these people watch one or two old films then turn away from all because they believe they all will be the same... Which is kind of silly if you ask me.

[Unikitty 1,211]

I don't generally like older movies because I dislike that it's clear that they're all staged. The cliches and amateur(in comparison to today) general production quality make it hard to really enjoy older films. The film industry is always growing and has never been bigger than now. But 50+ years ago it was significantly less developed - that's simply how it is. Whilst it might have been pinnacle film quality for its time, we've long since learned from it and thus grown into a whole new level of filmography.
Many movies just don't hold up to the test of time and become less interesting. When I watch a movie, I want to be engrossed. I want an immersive experience that really pulls me in. Not some grainy film with sub-par acting and two-dimensional characters and settings. They're just not real enough for me.

[Paleopony 690]

I've seen a few good black and white movies but I prefer color movies.

[TBD 17,228]

I love watch B&W shows and movies. I think the audio and the simple story of it is really relaxing to watch

[Vefka 1,499]

Well, there's a difference between movies which are BW because of limitations and movies with BW style. I like the second ones, but not not the first ones

[Pentium100 2,056]

I like old movies, even the silent movies (two good examples being The General and Metropolis, made in 1926 and 1927 respectively). For a good movie with sound, wath Gaslight - it's where the term "gaslighting" got its name.

Then again, maybe it's because I used to watch TV in black and white on a small portable set when I was a kid so I got used to not having color.

I do not particularly like movies that are B&W as a stylistic choice (made when color technology was widely available) - it seems "fake" to me. The movie Clerks is an exception because it is B&W because the creator did not have enough money to make it in color.

But the movies that were made when color/sound was not available (or very expensive) are OK for massuming the movie itself is good.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Pentium100

[EpicEnergy 22,066]

I personally am not interested in them though because I enjoy movies with a variety of colors better. Regardless, there's nothing wrong with watching black and white movies.

[Clawdeen 12,109]

I mean I’ve seen some pretty great black and white movies. 

[RDDash 18,848]

My rule is do not watch movies that are older than me. There's nothing wrong with them, I just don't watch them unless I had to.

[Northern Star 1,023]

I am a fan of the B&W era, but lean more towards the series than the movies, but that's just because the B&W series are more readily available. Gunsmoke and Bonanza look better quite a bit in B&W anyway. 

 

The B&W stuff is what got me into film cameras and development though as, unlike today's modern technology, it doesn't have a set resolution. It's still limited by today's technology. It's why the past is in HD and the 70s-2010s is...fuzzy. Its 90 years old and looks clearer than today's 4K, if it was digitized properly anyway.

[Splashee 28,537]

I am one of those who just changed my TV's settings to black and white as little, and I thought it was ... Not do fun. So I never cared about watching real black and white stuff.

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

I might watch a B&W movie if the synopsis is appealing 

[Dreambiscuit 8,022]

Writing off the thousands of B&W classics out there just because they’re ‘old’ would be shortsighted and ridiculous. These are movies that actually rely on good writing and direction rather than saturating the screen with special effects. Special effects are worthless without a good story that's well presented. Most movies nowadays have plot holes so vast you could drive a train through them, but the studios figure they can just disguise these shortcomings by dazzling the audience with meaningless visuals, or by misleading direction (like shaky cameras and bullet-time, which hide what’s going on rather than clarify it). The rule of thumb seems to be, “If you can’t be clever, be confusing” and apparently it’s worked. This makes me sad. I love B&W movies and some of my favorites are silent films from the 1920s. They’re so great they don’t even need sound! No movie should be judged by technical merit alone. Technology is just a tool to make a shinier, prettier product, but unessential to the main goal, which is to tell great stories. If anything, color, sound and technology are there to serve the story and not the other way around. This concept seems to have gotten lost in the modern world.

[TheRockARooster 47,241]

1 minute ago, Dreambiscuit said:

Writing off the thousands of B&W classics out there just because they’re ‘old’ would be shortsighted and ridiculous. These are movies that actually rely on good writing and direction rather than saturating the screen with special effects. Special effects are worthless without a good story that's well presented. Most movies nowadays have plot holes so vast you could drive a train through them, but the studios figure they can just disguise these shortcomings by dazzling the audience with meaningless visuals, or by misleading direction (like shaky cameras and bullet-time, which hide what’s going on rather than clarify it). The rule of thumb seems to be, “If you can’t be clever, be confusing” and apparently it’s worked. This makes me sad. I love B&W movies and some of my favorites are silent films from the 1920s. They’re so great they don’t even need sound! No movie should be judged by technical merit alone. Technology is just a tool to make a shinier, prettier product, but unessential to the main goal, which is to tell great stories. If anything, color, sound and technology are there to serve the story and not the other way around. This concept seems to have gotten lost in the modern world.

I've watched many old B&W movies, Dreamy.

Some of them are my favourites.

Edited August 10, 2021 by TheRockARooster