Noting Matt’s recent remarks about his use of the colors black and white, a reader asks Matt whether he is in favor of colorizing black-and-white films.

Matt responds:

I personally think that if something is made in black and white, it should be honored in black and white.  In the culture of the time, the movements of the actors, the lighting, the placement of different props, all revolved around light and shadow, almost like the great Rembrandt paintings, which came from a time when figures in interior scenes appeared as they would by candlelight.

Colorizing a great black-and-white film would be like trying to paint the Statue of Liberty.

I’m all for looking for new answers, but I don’t think we have to destroy the old things.  I think we should build on what we know and honor where we came from.  Just because there’s a new flavor of the decade, doesn’t mean that we have to pour chocolate all over the old decades and spray whipped cream all over it, and put a big cherry on top to make it taste better.

I’m sure somebody in the future is going to say, “We should put these new colors from outer space on what they’ve already done!”

My father used to say, “Leave well enough alone.”  That’s my answer. 

Matt