The short story "Videotape," written by Don DeLillo, describes the filming of a home video that almost seems purposely directed to catch the act of a homicide. DeLillo puts behind the camera a little girl whose innocent curiosity produces an awry tape that is played over and over again despite the rawness of the crime being filmed. Society's appetite for violence and for pushing the limits of appropriateness has grown drastically and caused generations to become desensitized to the brutality and horror of events such as homicides. "Videotape" captures this desensitization. DeLillo draws the reader in with seemingly casual conversation to imply the lack of emotional responsiveness created by this video, as if this were a normal occurrence and should be shown to your family members, wives, and kids for entertainment. The reasoning behind DeLillo's missing sense of compassion while telling the story is to form an underlying apathetic tone allowing for the reader to feel comfortable and unaffected by a horrific scene of events being described; however, he also creates tension amongst the reader's conscious as the reader is conflicted with whether or not to think their perception of this event is appropriate or radically insensitive.  DeLillo presents this tone through multiple literary techniques such as, informal diction, second-person point of view, and matter-of-fact descriptions. All of which allude to the growing desensitization of what is supposed to be explicit footage.

The story itself is written in informal diction including repetition of pronouns such as, "You", "It", and "They". DeLillo wants the audience to be a part of the story that he is telling and wants them to have a sense or feeling of normality. The use of numerous references to "you" allows the audience to become a viewer of this tape; however, DeLillo's structure of the story is meant to guide the viewer into a certain perspective and elicit a specific response.  The narrator addresses the reader directly, "You know about families and their video cameras. You know how kids get involved..." (52). The informality of the language in the story corresponds with the informality of opinions and emotions relating to graphic footage shown today.  As much as DeLillo wants the reader to be a part of the story he limits the amount of feeling that the reader is able to feel by writing in second-person point of view. When describing how the victim's body looks to an outsider he simply tells the reader what he wants them to know, "You don't see the blood, which is probably trickling down his ear and down the back of his neck. The way his head is twisted away from the door, the twist of the head gives you only a partial profile and it's the wrong side, it's not the side where he was hit" (54). Rather than giving a depiction of what the young girl is viewing he addresses the audience with his own personal recollection of the image. By doing this DeLillo is lowering the credibility of his account similar to when a story is told over and over again by various people. The less credible and detailed the description is, the less of the emotional connection the reader is able to make to the story.

The description of the actual video throughout the entire story is very limited and not detailed, but the effort to make the reader feel a connection or relation to the video goes as far as to incorporate family memories and spouses. "You don't usually call your wife over to the TV set. She has her programs, you have yours. But there's a certain urgency here. You want her to see how it looks. The tape has been running forever and now the thing is finally going to happen and you want her to be here when he's shot." (54).  The imbalance between the informal style and the central event's description suggests the reality of the conflict between the inappropriate nature of obscene events and the absence of sensitivity to them. DeLillo continues to reference the readers "wife" throughout the entire story giving the story even more normality. The audience at this point can perceive that this videotape has been shown to a wide variety of viewers and that it's only typical of them to want to share the viewing experience with others. This is exactly the feeling DeLillo is trying to provoke. When one person views something graphic or shocking their immediate response is to share their experiences with another, ultimately continuing on the negative exposure to more and more people.  Today's society uses media such as social networking and television to spotlight tragic events without considering the effects of what too much contact with graphic footage does to the population. DeLillo states in his texts, "And maybe you're being a little aggressive here, practically forcing your wife to watch. Why? What are you telling her?" (55).  This phrase is still applicable to today and shows how addicted we are becoming to recorded acts of violence and crime.

DeLillo's work serves as a reminder that death is becoming too regular for the normal person and an event like a homicide caught on camera should provoke a strong emotional response. Through repetition of simple and conversational language, realism, and informality DeLillo is able to voice a message of concern towards the anticipation of over exposure to violence and negative stimuli that will further desensitize society's emotional responsiveness.
