I'd like to slip my two credits' worth in.  DOF, like any other tool, depends on your intent.  I have to agree that with the skater, using DOF kind of diminished the old story, but told a new story: skater vs. pinup or portrait.  And as long as we're talking a comparison with movies, watch the editing.  In many movies, they don't blur the background and shift the focus (pun intended) until after you've already seen the background once and know the environment.  It's like the establishing shot in a way, where they show you the outside of the building before shifting to the characters inside one of the offices of that building.  Instead, they've established the environment first before intensifying on the character.

Sometimes, they will deliberately obscure the environment because the reveal is intended to invoke a response.  Such as in The Hunt For Red October, we see Ryan and Ramius close up, and Ramius warns Ryan to be careful where he shoots.  Then they switch to another angle and show that they're in the missile room, with 18 or so nuclear-tipped missiles in their launch tubes. The meaning behind Ramius's warning becomes clear AND emphasized at that point.

DOF is a tool for emphasis.  It's up to each creator to decide when they need to provide emphasis, and when they do not.  And like any tool, it can be under-utilized or over-utilized.  It is my speculation that the choice is more critical for a still because you only have once chance with one image to tell the story you want to tell. In a movie, you can do both if you want to, as the emphasis of the scene shifts dynamically.

I remember an episode of Ironside from the 70s where they used a technique that is a little more common now.  Instead of the traditional two camera set up, where you cut back and forth as the characters talk, they set up an angle where both characters were visible, and changed the DOF to focus on the character who was talking.

That said, all of you are better at this than I am.  I just wanted to point out that both sides have some right on their side for the differing opinions.