Hollywood's muddy battle with color in historical media or war on whimsy

[@__-vb3ht]

I think the reason why modern movies are afraid of colour is not only because everyday fashion has become more monotonous in some ways, or the view of history has shifted, but becasue they want to get away from the earlier historical films. The middle ages were actually colourful and earlier movies depicted that, but they also have a very specific look. Erol Flynns Robin Hood or Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the all have a similar look and feel. Now if a movie shows colourful costumes it will remind the audience not of the actual historical period but of these earlier movies that are seen as cheesy, and that's what they want to avoid. I hope this makes sense with the way I phrased it. They stopped doing colourful costumes, because they already had that in earlier movies so it's considered "done" or outdated now

[@thebordoshow]

I get it, but I don't like it! Being cheesy isn't bad and even cheesy comedy shows and movies do the dark and muddy trope. I think it's just Hollywood's lack of imagination

[@Zeithri]

Should see the modern remake of Shogun. It's grey, drap and dystopic. Compared to the orginal Shogun, that was warm, colorful and beautiful.

[@paulmears5330]

What a wonderful museum. It's a joy to see the beautiful clothing preserved and its local meanings still understood 😎

[@AggelosKyriou]

The "mud filter" is so real. Why the fuck are drab browns and blacks the only colors considered gritty enough for medieval and fantasy adaptations?

[@thebordoshow]

Exactly. If actual warriors throughout history thought Bright colors were intimidating why can't we now?

[@bumblebeecomentarista9273]

I think it's very kind of you to share your culture and that of many other people with us!

[@nordicnostalgia8106]

Ironic considering how colorful clothes people wear in the Assassin's Creed games

[@thebordoshow]

yea, that game at least (not always but better then most) tries to show how history looked

[@fr0gg135]

What a wonderful channel. Thanks for sharing this with us!

[@skymakker313]

Very good topic to cover! There needs to be more discussion about the full scope of historical fashion and how colorful it was.

[@thebordoshow]

Modern mind can't comprehend it

[@kertagin1]

@@thebordoshow I disagree, they can comprehend.... just too many hate the idea

[@wolfstettler3183]

Thank you for the video. The "biking"-aesthetics in modern movies and tv series has grown beyond ridiculous. Probably this trend started with some talented directors wanting their films to be visually different from the Technicolor bombast of the 1950ies and 60ies. To get a more realistic, down to earth style for grittier, less one dimensional heroic stories. Unfortunately, the older films were more realistic in the costumes department (at least concerning the colours, cuts, hair stiles etc. is a different matter). And more unfortunately less talented directors and producers copied the stile on and on. I hope that in the near future, some bold, avantgardist director looks at some actual medieval paintings or illustrations and gets a schocking new idea how to differentiate his work from the mainstream. And I think, there is reason for hope. The new Netflix film Damsel - while by no means a groundbreaking fantasy film - does go into the right direction when it comes to costumes and settings. They are not historically realistic, but they are colourful, the knights don't dress like pesants, the nobility show their wealth and power and even the commoners don't look like they lived in the sewers.

[@dukemaradani5821]

Awesome video

[@thebordoshow]

Thank you

[@michaelman957]

I think a lot of it comes from scorn and disdain for the past. The medieval period is treated horribly in the West these days. People think it was a miserable time period, but good medievalists like Regine Pernoud show that to be false.

[@thebordoshow]

Yet they make nonstop shlock set in the county of "medivalia"

[@cursosedulaeniteroi]

amazing. I love seeing videos like this.

[@AudrexaNkrullmyaHexburn]

When Luther challenged catholocism, the protestants chose to wear black, to distinguish themselves from catholics. It might be inspired by monks. The english also had a rebellion against catholics. But these movement were pious. Jumping to modern times, Johnny Cash wore black to sympatise with the poor and the downtrodden.

[@thebordoshow]

I think it might have to do something with puritanist roots in America, but all the old golden age movies had no issue with colorful clothing, its much more modern. I cant blame Johnny cash, I doubt he would appreciate thus trend ether

[@AudrexaNkrullmyaHexburn]

@@thebordoshow before American puritanisme, there was puritan roots in Europe. Sure American puritanisme is influential, but its imigrants from Europe who brought it to america

[@thebordoshow]

@@AudrexaNkrullmyaHexburn we kicked them out for a reason

[@MajoraZ]

I think Mesoamerica (the Aztec, Maya, etc) is the worst with this in media. Not only does it suffer from the same issue where the footage is color graded to be drab and dark, and not only is clothing, buildings, etc depicted as dirty and worn, but the entire aesthetic of what Mesoamerican clothing, architecture, and just society in general was like is almost totally made up and not representative of actual history just to make them look as primitive as possible: Cities are shown as a few stray grey ruins with bare rocks slapped together surronded by jungle and a few huts, people wear hobbled together rags and pieces of bone and are otherwise basically naked, etc. In reality, say, for the Aztec specifically, men would have worn cloaks/mantles a bit like Greco-roman togas, while women wore long, flowing baggy blouses (I've seen people mistake accurate art of Aztec noblewoman with those blouses and their hair buns as being Japanese Geisha) with nobles having them in a variety of colors and with different geometric, floral, animal, and mythological designs, and jade, gold, turquoise and fine feather jewelry and ornaments. Feathers weren't simply stuck into things when used, but were arranged like precise bouquets into specific shapes and arrays, or used in a mosaic across other garments and surfaces, absolutely with as much fidelity as a fine painting, but iridescent and glittering with changing colors as the viewing and lighting changes. (Seriously, look up "Mexican Feather painting" or "Mexican Feather mosaic" for surviving examples of "paintings" made by Aztec and other Mesoamerican artists for the Spanish, they're mind blowing) All of the monumental large scale structures would have been covered in smooth gleaming white stucco, and then painted and accented with murals, reliefs, sculptural facedes, etc. The actual Aztec (and Teotihuacano, to a lesser extent Mixtec, etc) architectural style is closer to Minoan palaces at places like Knossos more then anything else at a glance (just without multiple stacked floors/stories in most cases) with palaces having square geometric style rooms with flat roofs, and patios with columns surrounding open courtyards, geometric roof trim accents, etc .Tenochtitlan had most of it's temples, palaces, ball courts, etc arranged in a quasi grid layout spaced out around large open plazas (with many botanical gardens, aviaries, zoos, etc built in palace courtyards or around them) with the outskirts being grids of artificial islands housing both commoner homes and acting hydroponic farms with Venice like canals between them, as the city was built in the center of a lake. If people want good visual examples of this all, i'd recommend the paintings of Aztec cityscapes by Scott and Stuart Gentling, depictions of Mesoamerican clothing by Kamazotz/Zotzcomic/Daniel Parada, Rafael Mena, OHS688 (some of his art is furry, but the fashion is all accurate), etc. So only would the amount of color be intense (the blues of the water, the green from shrubs, trees, and grass of the farms and of gardens, buildings in white and, clothing and painted frescos using crimsons, azures, ochre, blacks, whites, greens, etc pink and all sorts of other colors from flowers, etc... Aztec clothing and armor is if anything exceptionally garish due to mixing and combining bold red, blues, greens, yellows etc together and the iridesecent feather elements), but you also have massive cities which are like Venice meets the Hanging Gardens of Babylon with almost Minoan architecture mixed with what people THINK of Aztec art and designs, men dressed like more garish people from Classical Antiquity, Woman almost like Geishas, etc. They were also almost nowhere near the jungle! Maya stuff is a bit closer to people's mental image for what Mesoamerica looked like, but it's still so, so different.

[@irinaiturri]

Its reminded me the "anime" Onyx Equinox, set in aztec empire, that is colorful and with some gorgeous clothing for deities and nobles

[@irinaiturri]

Have you watched Onyx Equinox?

[@mathcamel]

Cool video! Thank you.

[@Ever_green2021]

I dont understand why so little people watch this channel! I love your videos!

[@thebordoshow]

Me nether. I kinda feel scummy posting my videos all over the place to get some attention but what you got to do.

[@en6853]

Love your channel

[@Zeithri]

I adore Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. That, Dragonheart 1996, Ivanhoe 1982 and Dragon Quest: Your Story are movies I rewatch every year pretty much.

[@thebordoshow]

Same, need to rewatch old classics more

[@herkles5416]

I despise the mud filter, the older movies have their issues(lots of them with regards to historicty) but I find it interesting as we have gotten far better at actual understanding the garments of people in the past. there are a lot more resources available, and just on youtube alone a number of channels dedicated to sewing historical garments. Yet modern films and shows tend to love the brown filter. An example of this is the recent Napoleon movie, which had this blue grey filter over everything, yet if you saw the behind scenes footage, it was filled with color being far closer to the history then the actual movie. In regards to modern fashion though, my biggest thing I despise with modern fashion isn't the lack of color but fast fashion which I regard as an evil. The clothes are made to so cheaply that they literally fall appart after a few uses, the working conditions are absolutly apalling, and the enviornmental impact both in the production of fast fashion and the disposal of it, is just as bad. And while I can't sew(though it is something I might try to learn), I so much prefer clothing that can last. And if clothing can last, then I don't mind it having color at all, especially Blues and Greens.

[@badconnection4383]

And that's why Kingdom Come Deliverance is one of the best games to come out in recent memory. It shows a medieval world but one full of color of life. From the intricate patterns on the Knights' armor, to the distinctive colors on the buildings, and finally the saturated outfits of the commoners. There isn't a single NPC who doesn't look memorable throughout the game's entire runtime.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

Honestly. I'm making a Story Based on the Show RWBY set in Edwardian London and in that story I was wondering if it would be correct for me to put more color on the characters simply because of the RWBY show Influence or that it would be too historically inaccurate.. This is at least making me feel confident that portraying not only the main characters but the people of Edwardian London to have a Bit more color might be the Correct choice.

[@thebordoshow]

It's fantasy, go fantastical! Yet our actual history is soo full of colour but Hollywood puts the dreaded mud filter all over it

[@saps5831]

Does anyone know what the footage from the last few seconds of the video is from?

[@thebordoshow]

its an old king Arthur movie you can find it on KZbin

[@Vuntermonkey]

This video is a breath of fresh air. I'm convinced we're presented with dark and muddy representations of our past to internalize the distaste some groups have for our ancestors.

[@thebordoshow]

Yet we see so much media about historical fantasy. I think people love it but the producers hate it

[@danieladamczyk4024]

Humans love colors.

[@lukazirakadze3430]

ბორდო თუ შეგიძლია საერთო ხმას აუწიე

[@thebordoshow]

არა, მაქსიმუზეა

[@RealBadGaming52]

What lauguage is this?

[@WarDogMadness]

Blame the gothz dammit 😂

[@arielczako8612]

I love this! Just a nuance, but let your partner finish his sentences and speak!

[@thebordoshow]

yea, I'm very ADHD brained and want to ramble on a lot and he is a tour guide who has to speak so everyone can understand him so we clash a bit. You should watch my podcast where I talk to someone whos equally crazy and we ramble on non stop

[@elshebactm6769]

🚬🗿👍

[@ronbird121]

easy answer, hollywood directors cant read

[@ThaLoser]

Hello, I know it's been a while since you uploaded this but I'd really like to know what the name of the film with all the Winged Hussars is. Please keep up the good work I just found this channel and I'm loving it

[@thebordoshow]

its called fire and sword, you can find subbed on youtube

[@ThaLoser]

@@thebordoshow Many thanks my friend