Second of two parts. P erhaps one explanation for the current near-absence of what we might call traditional movie eroticism is the preeminence of TV, video and the Web as media forms. TV used to aspire to be like the movies. Now the effort is going in the opposite direction, into making movies more like TV, ads, rock videos and Web sites. There's a big difference between new-media sexiness and movie eroticism.
Video tends to make everything literal and raucous.
Tasty bits aren't just brought to the surface, they're made ultrabrite, and actively go after your nerve endings. This is sex as special effects and packaging, all tweaked and Photoshopped. Just as basic is the fact that the movie image is far more detailed and denser than the video image. The ritual of moviegoing contributes to the qualities we think of as cinematic. You go to a theater at a specific time.