The Forgotten History of Silent Films in Color

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wvYH2P1Tc2kCKZ8DCIvTVIXHlE4kdZuo/view?pli=1

Why do you think modern-day people perceive early film as ONLY black and white?  What do you think has led to this perception?  How do you think color was perceived by audiences back in the dawn of cinema?

    I believe that most modern-day people perceive early film as ONLY black and white because of the loss of a lot of old footage and the memory of only major events such as the introduction of technicolor. As a lot of time has passed, old film mediums degrade and become faded; however, colored films were less stable than their black and white counterparts and were more prone to quicker decay. Additionally film was extremely flammable and many archives have burnt down in the past. Additionally, past historians viewed the color as an add-on that was integral to the film and didn't need to be preserved, leading to a lot of the colored versions being lost to time. Thus, most of the only films to survive were black and white. Additionally, it is likely that modern audiences will recall the introduction of technicolor and believe that it was the first use of color in film, thus creating a misconception that silent films were always in black and white. I believe that early audiences would have perceived colored film with similar awe and reactions to early films and eventually accepting it as part of the appeal and artistry of film.