Often after watching the news or seeing something worthy of broadcasting to the general public, people's thoughts will linger on the ideas expressed to them. Viewers will either experience new emotions towards the received information or begin to feel stronger about previously conceived emotions. Forming new or stronger emotions many times will lead to a change in someone's views or thoughts on certain issues. In the story "Videotape," Don DeLillo uses a young girl as the video taper of a murder that goes viral and is seen by many. By looking at the youth and innocence of the girl, we can see how the viewers' emotions are effected by the video due to their preconceived notions of youth as pure and innocent and not conflating with ideas of death and violence.

The video taper's youth is extremely important in this piece because it automatically brings about thoughts of a child's innocence. Her youth and innocence suggest that she, in no way, should be connected to the horrible incident by previous matters and that her action of videotaping the man behind her is unplanned and very coincidental. Because it just so happens that the child is videotaping the scene before the horror arrives, this situation is a representation of how random and unpredictable the world is. Since people do not expect such innocence to be involved in dark and evil acts, it serves as a reminder of how capricious society is. The young girl exposes a candid and unpredictable world to the audience just as, "children with cameras learn to work the exposed moments that define the family cluster" (DeLillo 60). Instead of exposing and defining her family with her curious videotaping skills, she is uncovering and defining the instability of society that surrounds her and all of those who watch the video. With her age speaking for how naive and uninfluenced she still may be, viewers are shocked by her part in the murder and their emotions be altered by the uncanniness of her filming timing and the murder of the man in the car behind her. 

Since the un-named girl is still dwelling in her adolescent years, we find it easier to relate to and make personal connections with her stage in life. If you were not a young and curious child yourself, then you definitely know of someone who was, or are familiar with the countless scenarios and stereotypes regarding children of that age. The general public is knowledgeable on the idea of curious children and their behaviors and because of this knowledge, the video-taper's age puts a spin on how the tape is viewed and reflected upon. DeLillo uses the girl to show how people's emotions while watching the recording are affected by the idea of her being the filmmaker. Watchers of the video keep in mind the child's movements and how "she keeps the camera trained on the subject as he slides into the door and even as you see him die you're thinking of the girl" (DeLillo 62). Even in the midst of a horrifying murder scene playing before the people's eyes, the ideas of the child's innocence and youth are overpowering and stick strongly in the viewer's minds. More emotions are pulled from spectators knowing that "at some level the girl has to be present here, watching what you're watching, unprepared- the girl is seeing this cold and you have to marvel at the fact that she keeps the tape rolling" (DeLillo 62). Her youth concocts thoughts in the watchers about the adolescents that they know, and even more of the days when the audience themselves were that age. It is hard to imagine without cringing how one might have reacted if placed in the same situation as this young girl, fearfully watching a stranger get shot and slump to his death at such a close range. If DeLillo had made the video-taper a middle-aged man or woman, the audience's thoughts while watching would most likely not revisit or dwell on the filmmaker. This would center the viewers thoughts around the act of murder, instead of being more focused on and feeling upset knowing that an innocent child had to witness and be a part of such an evil act. If it had been a middle-aged citizen filming this murder, the situation would not have seemed so reliably coincidental, due to the fact that it is not as common or believable for adults to be filming random subjects in public. By having the young girl as the video-taper, viewers relate to her and develop emotions of sympathy and pity for her knowing the murder stained her purity. They express more concern and spend extended time dwelling on their emotions related to this child's innocence, her role in the shooting, and the murder scene as a whole. These emotions keep them more focused on the video-taper than the act of murder in the video because of people's natural resistance to relate the ideas of innocence and violence. 

Although the story's basis is about a murder scene and the reactions of those who observe the tape afterwards, the message would not be functional without the youthful girl. The child's presence in the incident, as well as how she manages to involve herself and the after-math of her involvement, is what creates the basis and structure for this story. Without the girl, there would be no innocent, curious child with a camera to take the video. Without the video, there is no way for the general public to have a physical image and be able to see and re-see how the shooting occurred. Without this physical image, there is no demonstration of how the people's emotions, thoughts and perceptions are influenced by watching the video and thinking of the child. Without the youthful girl, DeLillo's story would have little basis and substance to show how the public is shocked by the relationships between youth and death and therefore pay extended attention to it and gain emotions from it. DeLillo states that, "it is the camera that puts her in the tale" (DeLillo 61). It is true that the camera is introduced into the story before the child, however it is she who puts the camera in the tale by using it to record something. She possesses it and uses it for her own curiosity. She is the subject truly controlling the structure of the story, her innocence bringing out and ruling over viewer's emotions. These emotions then affect how people feel and view the shooting and their society as a whole.  

Because Don DeLillo uses an adolescent girl as an underlying subject in his story, it puts a spin on people's perception of the murder and their emotions towards it since it is not common for such innocence to interact so closely with violence and death. Her youth is expressed to represent her innocence and assists in demonstrating how random life can be. Since the video-taper is young and curious, the audience makes additional connections with her age and express extended concern due to it. The young girl acts as the building blocks of the story, and without her Don DeLillo would lose much of his evidence needed to portray how people's emotions, thoughts and insights can be influenced by her innocence because innocence and youth are not normally connected with death and violence. 

