Who said “The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings,…”?

Verified

Joyce Carol Oates. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceYou Must Remember This (1987), pt. 1, ch. 13

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“The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as small, trivial, flat, in two banal dimensions, drained of color. Wasn't there something reassuring about it! -- that human beings were in fact merely images of a kind registered in one another's eyes and brains, phenomena composed of microscopic flickering dots like atoms. They were atoms -- nothing more. A quick switch of the dial and they disappeared and who could lament the loss?”
— Joyce Carol Oates
VerifiedYou Must Remember This (1987), pt. 1, ch. 13 · evidenceTelevision

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: You Must Remember This (1987), pt. 1, ch. 13.

APA

Oates, J. C. (n.d.). The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as small, trivial, flat, in two banal dimensions, drained of color. Wasn't there something reassuring about it! -- that human beings were in fact merely images of a kind registered in one another's eyes and brains, phenomena composed of microscopic flickering dots like atoms. They were atoms -- nothing more. A quick switch of the dial and they disappeared and who could lament the loss? [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/39426-the-television-screen-so-unlike-the-movie-screen/

MLA

Oates, Joyce Carol. “The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as small, trivial, flat, in two banal dimensions, drained of color. Wasn't there something reassuring about it! -- that human beings were in fact merely images of a kind registered in one another's eyes and brains, phenomena composed of microscopic flickering dots like atoms. They were atoms -- nothing more. A quick switch of the dial and they disappeared and who could lament the loss?” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/39426-the-television-screen-so-unlike-the-movie-screen/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Oates, Joyce Carol. “The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as small, trivial, flat, in two banal dimensions, drained of color. Wasn't there something reassuring about it! -- that human beings were in fact merely images of a kind registered in one another's eyes and brains, phenomena composed of microscopic flickering dots like atoms. They were atoms -- nothing more. A quick switch of the dial and they disappeared and who could lament the loss?” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/39426-the-television-screen-so-unlike-the-movie-screen/.

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More quotes by Joyce Carol Oates

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