Growing up with black and white TV

..and why not?
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Snarfyguy
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Growing up with black and white TV

Postby Snarfyguy » 01 Mar 2007, 19:42

We only had a black and white set until I was in my early teens, so this is how my early viewing experiences were formed and how they remain in my recollection.

To this day, it's jarring to see Warner Bros cartoons in color and I react negatively some films I admired as a youth that I now see in color.

For example, Truffaut's Farenheit 451, shot by Nicolas Roeg. I considered this a masterpiece for its stark, elegant contrast and how that reflected the protagonist's increasing moodiness and alienation.

So then I rent it and it turns out to be Truffaut's first color film and he has no idea what he's doing, clumsily throwing saturated reds and blues all over the place like a three year old (symbolism :roll: ).

This movie was better in black and white. :(

Anybody else grow up with black and white? Has it had any influence on how you feel about certain viewing experiences?
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Postby sloopjohnc » 01 Mar 2007, 19:54

We were in the same situation growing up but I don't think the residual effect has lasted as long.

But your post made me remember when Ted Turner "colorized" a bunch of old movies----that probably comes the closest to what you're describing.

Man, I'm glad that died a suitable death.
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Postby harvey k-tel » 01 Mar 2007, 20:16

We had B&W until I was about 10 or so. I don't have any fond memories of it, though. I was pretty fuckin' happy when we got a colour set; the Flintstones really came to life.
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Snarfyguy
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Postby Snarfyguy » 01 Mar 2007, 20:23

Don't get me wrong, I was stoked to get color - and cable.

Just that a lot of stuff I saw before that point wasn't made for B&W, but that's how I saw it and, in many cases, remember it. Which can be weird.
GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

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Postby kath » 01 Mar 2007, 20:45

when i was a kid, we had black and white. i can't remember when we got color, but it was somewhere right after the moonwalk.

i loved getting color. the first time i saw wizard of oz, i was just blown away.

when i moved into my first apartment at the age of 16, i took my old bubble-jetsons-looking black and white tv. had it for a few years before i could afford a color tv. and i still loved it, hee heee.

the only time i remember what yer describing~~that jarring effect~~was when i finally saw the day of the triffids in color. it almost felt colorized... it really took away from the creepiness of the film as i had remembered it. weird.

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Postby Sneelock » 01 Mar 2007, 20:53

my reaction was different.
I never thought of black and white t.v. as being in black and white. it was just t.v.
THEN, one evening, we visited friends and saw 'Batman' on their color t.v.
this was a pretty big deal, normally my grown ups would not have watched 'Batman' under any circumstances.

well, I guess my brain had been "coloring in" the black and white picture because my t.v. didn't look the same when we got home. all the color had been drained out of my little 13 inch world.

looking back, it's like a gland in my head closed, never to open again.
Batman didn't look right in gradated greys anymore so I turned to crime.

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Postby Snarfyguy » 01 Mar 2007, 21:15

kath wrote:the only time i remember what yer describing~~that jarring effect~~was when i finally saw the day of the triffids in color. it almost felt colorized... it really took away from the creepiness of the film as i had remembered it. weird.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. It is a really weird sensation. I was just wondering if anyone else ever had it. Now that you mention it, I didn't even know Triffids was a color film; I *totally* think of it in black & white.

And I'm sure to this day I haven't seen the Batman TV show in color. I wish they'd get their act together and get the DVDs out.
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Postby Bungo the Mungo » 01 Mar 2007, 23:36

Sneelock wrote:my reaction was different.
I never thought of black and white t.v. as being in black and white. it was just t.v.
THEN, one evening, we visited friends and saw 'Batman' on their color t.v.
this was a pretty big deal, normally my grown ups would not have watched 'Batman' under any circumstances.

well, I guess my brain had been "coloring in" the black and white picture because my t.v. didn't look the same when we got home. all the color had been drained out of my little 13 inch world.

looking back, it's like a gland in my head closed, never to open again.
Batman didn't look right in gradated greys anymore so I turned to crime.


You're just asking to be quoted in signatures, aren't you, Sneelock?!

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Postby king feeb » 02 Mar 2007, 03:06

I saw Ted Turners colorized version of Citizen Kane once, right after it was released. It was a fucking abomination and I swear to God, Orson Welles looked just like Fred Flintstone.


I never had trouble "adjusting" to color TV from black and white at all. I didn't watch much TV when I was that age, so maybe that's the difference.
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Re: Growing up with black and white TV

Postby Maxwell's Golden Pickaxe » 06 Mar 2007, 16:01

Snarfyguy wrote:For example, Truffaut's Farenheit 451, shot by Nicolas Roeg. I considered this a masterpiece for its stark, elegant contrast and how that reflected the protagonist's increasing moodiness and alienation.


How old were you Snarf? 10??? :D

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Re: Growing up with black and white TV

Postby Snarfyguy » 06 Mar 2007, 17:50

Maxwell's Golden Pickaxe wrote:
Snarfyguy wrote:For example, Truffaut's Farenheit 451, shot by Nicolas Roeg. I considered this a masterpiece for its stark, elegant contrast and how that reflected the protagonist's increasing moodiness and alienation.


How old were you Snarf? 10??? :D

I was too young to have been able to express it that way, for sure. :lol:

But that was my emotional reaction to the movie.
GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

Sneelock

Postby Sneelock » 06 Mar 2007, 19:27

I think Bernard Herrman's score gets a lot of the credit and it sounds just fine in black and white.


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