Lluhi 1
Isabella
ENGL 101 – 135
4 October 2017
“Videotape” by Don DeLillo
The story starts off with a 12-year-old girl riding in the car with her parents, videotaping
a man driving beside them. The story seems innocent enough, until the man in the video driving
beside them is shot and killed. The man narrating the story has been watching the video on
repeat, just as it is being shown on TV. “Videotape” introduces the idea of how desensitized
people have become to violence and how that numbness can ironically affect their emotional
response.
The setting of “Videotape” plays an important role in the short story. The setting of the
little girl recording, as stated above, is in her car with her parents. This adds a sense of innocence
and makes the murder more shocking because of how simple the setting is. However, the setting
of the narrator watching the news in his house adds to how realistic the story is and how it could
really happen to anyone. Some children are exposed to death/violence and are stripped of their
innocence at a young age, whether it is through a death in the family, violence in their
environment, etc. This can make them more aware of death when it is something they have
known from a young age, and can even desensitize them. The fact is that some violence is
inevitable. Some children are unfortunate enough to be in the car during a car accident that kills
both their parents, or even be innocently recording a man driving and watch him be shot and
killed. If exposed to death and violence, children are very aware of the dangers and can be
completely stripped of their innocence at a young age.
Lluhi 2
The 12-year-old girl in the story who continues to record the video despite seeing a man
die in front of her, is desensitized to this violence. Had it been somebody else recording this
video, viewers would have likely heard a scream and the video would have ended there, but
instead she continues to record this. Maybe she continued out of curiosity for what else would
happen, or what else she could catch on camera. The only response we get from this little girl is a
camera shake, but then she continues on with the video.
The man at his house watching the news is also desensitized to the violence he is
watching. He continues to watch the video as the news is covering the story of the Texas
Highway Killer. He continues to watch it over despite knowing exactly what happens every time,
he cannot seem to pull himself away from it. He even asks his wife, Janet, to watch this video
with him. “You want your wife to see it because it is real this time, not fancy movie violence”
