This is why, invariably, when a person is exposed to television beyond a certain threshold, the ability to discriminate between the quality of images all but disappears. The movies are a little more encouraging. Here, the storyteller has a much wider visual palette and has an audience that has made a more deliberate and conscious choice to come and see these particular images. Competition between cinema and television for the attention of the public encourages moviemakers toward more innovation and relevance while the distribution structure has led to a diversity of cinema venues not directed exclusively at some fictional average viewer. The proliferation of less expensive and more sophisticated technology has placed the tools of moviemaking in the hands of a wider cross section of the population, so that more and different stories can be told.
Movies seem to be getting smarter while television keeps getting dumber.
These trends are likely to continue for years to come. The most sophisticated images on television are in commercials, devoted toward reinforcing a carefully crafted marketing image. The purpose of commercial television is to sell merchandise, and television will continue in the predictable future to function as the primary tool for social engineering. Since news management achieved new heights during the war in Iraq and fell to new lows during the Clinton Impeachment hearings, television has managed to convince most people that it is absolutely the least reliable source for information. The best thing about television is that it's sort of a corporate subsidized training ground for the directors and cinematographers who may one day make an impact in the movies.