Yeah, I watched a ton of black and white Mexican movies growing up. Pedro Infante and María Felix and the like, because my great-grandma couldn't read so the new Hollywood stuff that was subtitled wasn't for us. But you do you. https://twitter.com/Lexialex/status/1361680618724069383

Like I've said before, just like with the whole 'but literary books are elitist!' that's a weird take. In the case of the literary presses that's often where you find fiction in translation, therefore meaning it's not automatically 'anti-diverse.'

In the case of old films, Hollywood was not the only place that made black and white movies. And modern films are no guarantee of diversity, anti-sexism and the like.

plus, if we are going to talk about class + money, new movies are harder to view/more expensive than old ones. I can watch more black and white stuff for the price of a new direct to video release. Wonder Woman is going to be tons more expensive. And not sexism or racism free.

There's also a bunch of stuff you can see for free. Night of the Living Dead is black and white and copyright free, so one of those perennials you can sit through. Etc, etc.

Plus one big problem, and this is why Scorcese and his World Cinema project matter so much, is that 'old' movies are easily undervalued and lost. Especially when they're not Hollywood blockbusters. You can lose most of the film history of many nations very quick.

The problem with equating old movies with elitism, sexism, racism is that in the end the films that *won't* be hurt by this will be the big budget juggernauts. Gone with the Wind (though in color) will do just fine but people start thinking stuff like Criterion Channel is crap.

And that's where I've found a ton of cool stuff. I would have never seen half the African cinema I've seen if not for them. They have some amazing showcases of stuff.

Oh, I just mentioned this to someone else but: black and white was used for a long time because it was cheaper. The Honeymoon Killers, in black and white, is much more risky and subersive than the color version of the same story with Jared Leto.

There's a whole body of black and white low budget films that are able to do what they do because the medium is sufficient for small budgets. Aside from The Honeymoon Killers and Night of the Living Dead, there's Cat People or Carnival of Souls as examples of this.

Val Lewton's films, for one, can be analyzed for their queer content.

And black and white films contain a whole genre that disappeared: the women's picture, which vanishes with the advent of soap operas and TV.

Black and white movies give us films like Gaslight (1944) which is still so culturally relevant we use the word as a verb.

Old films encompass everything from Marlene Dietrich kissing a woman on screen to The Seven Samurai defending a village, the work of Buñuel & the glossy musicals with Astaire. It's Mexican pre-code Dracula & The Cool World. Dismissing b&w films makes the world monochromatic.