Modern Day Black & White Filmmaking: Pretentious?

A common theme amongst modern-day audiences is that they view black and white films as dull, pretentious or just not enough to really capture their interest. This is a theme that most commonly shared by audiences who were born in the era of colour, true. However, it holds true for those who grew up watching black and white pictures. In their mind, it's like regressing to a time that's long past where colour was a dream and all they had was black and white.

Parasite Black & White Version (2019)

The main audience for modern-day black and white films are cinephiles, film students and the odd hipster looking for some culture. Furthermore, black and white films in this day and age are often seen as detriments to financial gain by studios. This is what limits the production of modern-day black and white films.

Nowadays, these types of films are often limited to indie filmmakers who would dare to take the risk and have a genuine passion for the art form of filmmaking, and also proven auteurs like David Fincher, Bong Joon Ho, Robert Eggers and even Noah Baumbach. Their films in order are Mank (2020), Parasite Black and White Version (2019), The Lighthouse (2019) & Frances Ha (2012).

Bong Joon Ho on the set of Parasite (2019)

Monochrome films tend to pull in far less money than their chromatic counterparts for various obvious reasons. Colour captures the attention and if used right, will keep the viewer enthralled in its imagery till the very end. Monochrome films require a more detailed level of concentration to enjoy. Which has resulted in black and white films being few and far between. There has been a slight increase in its use in the past 3 years by major filmmakers, but not enough for the average consumer to notice.

Gary Oldman on the set of Mank (2020)

David Fincher's Mank is a true celebration of filmmaking at the very height of its popularity as well as the use of monochrome film being the standard across all films of that era. Mank explores the troubled and tumultuous time of Herrman J Mankiewicz as he rushes to finish what would become the most famous film of all time, Citizen Kane (1941) which would then be directed by legendary filmmaker, Orson Welles.

David Fincher and Gary Oldman on the set of Mank (2020)

Fincher's proven track record, and good relationship with Netflix after basically inventing the culture of 'binge watching' by releasing all episodes in a single season at once, for his hit Tv Shows House of Cards (2013 - 2018) & Mindhunter (2017 - 2019). This is what really gave Netflix the confidence to give Fincher his dream project of making the film that his late father Jack Fincher wrote, and shooting it the way it was meant to be shot. In black and white.

Black and white filmmaking in today's world of colour is shot mainly for stylistic purposes and on some occasions to capture the originality of the narrative. For example, Parasite The Black and White Version uses the monochrome look for some style and to better highlight the beautiful lighting and cinematography. Whereas, Mank was shot in black and white to be able to stay true to the film noir look of the 1940s.

The aesthetic beauty of Parasite the Black and White Version (2019)

So in conclusion, I don't think that most filmmakers make black and white films to be "pretentious" or over-the-top, but rather to better showcase the beauty of their film through a different lens while still providing the audience with a modern film experience.

What are your thoughts about this? Should studios and streaming services like Netflix be encouraged to allow filmmakers to do this with their films or is it just too big and unnecessary a risk? Let me know in the comments down below!