By: Barnali Bose, Editor-ICN
KOLKATA: Black means the absence of light and white denotes its presence. Black and white — so contrasting yet so complementary to each other.
More than four decades ago ‘Black and White’ was the order of the day. Movies were in black and white as were still photographs. I still remember,as a child, seeing the documentary on man’s first moon mission in black and white.Even today, Charlie Chaplin’s films in black and white never fail to fascinate me. When television first invaded our drawing rooms, it was in black and white. Colour was conspicuous by its absence.
In American films between the 1920s and the 1940s, white hats were often worn by heroes and black hats by villains to symbolize the contrast between good and evil.
Then, the ‘writing on the wall’ pertaining to astrological or astronomical predictions was also in black and white(Whether they were proved to be correct or not is an entirely different point of discussion).The Zebra Crossing however still is in Black and White.
U.S.A,supposedly a land of immigrants is a land of the Blacks and the Whites,both of whom have contributed to the greatness of the nation. But it is interesting to note that the Blacks or the Afro-Americans( the non-whites)are referred to as ‘coloured’ there.
It is we who desired colour. Soon,films became Technicolour, Eastman colour or Fuji. Colour photo reels replaced the black and white ones in our cameras.Colour photos began to adorn our family albums.Colour photography became more common since the mid-20th century.
Newspapers, magazines and pamphlets began to experiment with colour letters. However, they realised that black was more striking yet soothing to the eye against a white background and they restricted the use of colour to images,captions,headlines and endorsements.
Thus colour began to be sparingly used.Today, black and white provides a niche market for photographers who use the medium for artistic purposes.
Where there are colours,there are shades of these colours.Shades may enhance the beauty of a painting or draw attention to a billboard. But when it comes to our understanding of people, shades make the character of people very difficult to determine.
It brings to my mind Dr.Jekyll and Mr Hyde,the depiction of two shades of one person’s character in R.L Stevenson’s literary work.Perhaps a Dr.Jekyll(the good )and a Mr.Hyde( the evil) reside in each one of us.
In olden days,the character of people one came across in one’s day to day life was also in black and white(crystal-clear). Simplicity marked one’s character. One was ‘simply good’ or ‘simply bad’.
Very few, if any, masked their real selves with shades of colours. It was not very difficult to distinguish a foe from a friend.Just like a chameleon changes its colour easily,now a seemingly well wisher of yours might actually prove to be otherwise.
Ambiguity is now the rule rather than an exception to it. One has to be truly intelligent to understand the meaning of phrases and words with double meanings.“I have never met anyone as you” might mean ‘as good as you’ or ‘as bad as you’. When somebody says,” How intelligent you are! ”, he might actually be mocking at you.
Nothing seems to be in black and white anymore. Too many colours and too many shades of these colours in his nature has made man and his relationship with other men complex.
Black and White too has shades of grey and life is about the grey areas.It is the good still existing in the world today that helps neutralise the evil. Can we not revert to Black and White with a shade of grey so as to make our lives free from the manifold complexities of today?
