The simplicity of a child's mind is vividly exemplified in the video captured by the 'Video Kid'. The child, unknowingly filming a murder, is fascinated by the world around her. In the same way the child in "Videotape" by Don DeLillo is mesmerized by the events she is witnessing as she films, the viewer of the video also cannot look away from the replaying scene as he sees it on his screen. This need to watch something so gruesome to the end is something we all share as humans. A sense of curiosity and desire for a tragic catharsis is innate in all humans. This catharsis exists within each of the characters as is apparent when we examine their reactions  and emotions throughout the text.

A home video, particularly from a kid's perspective, gives off a sense of innocence and curiosity. Kids "investigate the meaning of inert objects, they poke fun at family privacy... and work the exposed moments that define the family cluster" (DeLillo, 52) as they hold a camera. They will knowingly, or unknowingly break every trust, and spy out the undefended space" (DeLillo, 52). Kids can provide a fresh take on everyday life occurrences because they see the world differently.  A camera simply accentuates their creative vision by standing as a theoretical wall that separates them from the world, providing an escape from reality to let their minds roam free. For them, it becomes a "game in which they invent the rules as they go along" (DeLillo, 53). By experiencing the happenings of a child's mind in this way, we see scenes in a different light. Having a child film the event plays to the viewer's innocent and trusting feelings like those of a child, making the death of the innocent man that much more surprising.

We are strung along as the narrator describes a home video being shot by a kid in her family car as they drive on the highway. The narrator describes the video as filled with a "jostled sort of non eventness; it is neither interesting nor boring. However, the video is also crude, blunt, and relentless, while the child is described as innocent, aimless, determined, and real" (52-53, DeLillo). With the narrator, we see what the child is seeing through her lens. She is filming a man driving on the highway in the car behind her and her family. The video develops, depicting the man as modest and kind. Suddenly the man is shot in his car. The narrator's thoughts are expressed as he witnesses this scene play out on the screen in front of him. The man is "jolted, sort of wireshocked---then he seizes up and falls toward the door or maybe leans or slides into the door is the proper way to put it." (54, DeLillo) Unlike common reactions to an unexpected death, the viewer does not seem to be phased by this shooting. Instead, he takes us through the scene as if he is reading a police report of sorts. This analysis he provides takes away the human aspect of the occurrence. We don't get any sorrow from the viewer. However, his description of the man's movement allows access into the thoughts he has about the video in real time, making it more relatable to the reader. It's as if we are watching the video with him, observing and reflecting on the scenes as he does. DeLillo further instills this in our minds with his repeated use of the word 'you', putting us into his story. The story becomes more realistic, and moreover, more emotional for the reader as they are placed in the story by the author.

As the girl films the man being shot, she reacts with a 'jolting' movement, yet she refuses to stop filming. The speaker details how the child "got lost, and wandered clear-eyed into horror" (54, DeLillo). She ventured too far from home, and too far from her family, as she broadened her lens to view the outside world, and was thus the victim of her own curiosity; a curiosity that was piqued by the videocamera in her hands. The narrator describes the child's response to the events as "sympathetic". She is physically at the scene of this murder; she isn't separated from it through a video after the fact, as the narrator is. The speaker marvels at the fearlessness of the girl as she continues to film throughout the entirety of the horrific scene. The fact that the narrator mentions his own awareness of the girl's presence behind the camera, even as the man dies, shows the high level of sympathy he holds for this child. Her "startled reaction to the gunshot brings pity and terror into the frame" (55, DeLillo). Aristotle defines a work of tragedy as one that arises from pity and fear, just as is detailed in this story. These events can be characterized as tragedy. The use of emotion such as fear and empathy as physical objects that can be represented visually by being "brought into the camera" is another way the narrator connects with the girl filming. He is able to experience a feeling of fear and pity directed towards the girl, just as the girl feels for the man in the video.

The man watching is mesmerized by this video. Even though he has seen it multiple times, he re-watches it again and again; each time is just as suspenseful as the last. He explains a "crude power" that holds his attention. He describes the 'power' as a combination of random, amateurish, accidental, and impending ingredients. Exemplifying these characteristics is the timing of the video. Had the child turned the camera at a certain time, she could have caught the shooter on film as he fired, or she could have missed the incident altogether. Or even still, "if she had panned to another car at the precise time, she would have caught the gunman as he fired (54, DeLillo).

He notes how he can tell the precise time when the man is hit from so many repeated viewings of the video. He rushes his wife over to watch this part with him: "Janet, hurry up, this is where it happens" (54, DeLillo). He isn't sure why he is asking her to watch with him. In fact, he argues that making her watch is 'aggressive', and a way of ruining her day. However, I think he craves the emotional confirmation from another person as he bears the weight of this tragedy. He needs help grasping the idea that all too quickly, life can be taken from a person. Or in his own words, "this is the risk of existing".  For him, the video stands as a reminder of the tragedies and chance occurrences out of one's control. "Lines of intersection that cut through history and logic and every reasonable layer of human expectation" (54, DeLillo) have created this event, and yet, you never know when the next tragedy might occur. The random 'lines' or happenings in the universe can come together at any moment to produce a tragedy. "It demonstrates an elemental truth that every breath you take has two possible endings" (55, DeLillo).

The viewer describes the events in the video as "superreal" or "underreal" as opposed to the world around him, which he says has a "rehearsed, layered, and cosmetic look". He can't tell if the world as he experiences it is more or less real than the video, which he says has "searing realness." He mentions that it is "not fancy movie violence." (54, DeLillo). The narrator's use of the word "fancy" as he contrasts this gruesome scene to other fictional scenes shows his absolute disbelief in the reality of this event, as if things like this don't actually happen in the real world. This separation from tragedy that most of us use as a coping mechanism, serves to blind us on some level from the 'real' world. This is potentially a reason for the narrator's inability to grasp this event as a reality, calling it "superreal" as if it surpasses the "real" events in normal life. "Maybe the victim's a chump, a dope, classically unlucky. He had it coming, in a way, like an innocent fool in a silent movie" (56, DeLillo). This comment reiterates the notion that the narrator sees the event as surreal. His mention of the video as a movie separates him from the event, providing on some level, a way to remain in denial because it wasn't witnessed first-hand. He makes the people in the video merely actors in his mind to make the sadness more bearable. The 'movie' itself stands as entertainment to the viewer. While watching, the narrator observes that "the horror freezes your soul, but this doesn't mean that you want it to stop" (56, DeLillo). Seeing someone at the moment he dies is something that draws a viewer in, and fixes them to the video. The narrator is keenly aware of the innate human curiosity to watch tragedy. Just as the girl continues to watch the man as he dies before her, the viewer cannot take their eyes off his screen either. A desire for tragic pleasure is a human characteristic within all of us.

In the same way a horror movie provides a way to satisfy our need to experience tragedy without taking the feeling with us afterward, the video depicted here provides the same experience. The feeling is able to be purged, temporarily, by filling the desire in our souls with second-hand experiences. In this way, tragic catharsis is a powerful resource to humans.
