"Videotape" was written by Don DeLillo. In this short story DeLillo is describing a disturbing video in which a young girl around the age of 12 accidentally catches a homicide on video while playing with a video recorder. This is why the short story is called "Videotape", the title directly relates to the story itself. DeLillo interprets this video in a specific way just as I am interpreting the meaning behind his text in a specific way. This can easily be found in the form and language he uses. DeLillo has three main points of interpretation throughout his story and he uses rhetoric devices to help justify what he is saying. This is something writers typically do to help prove a point. The interpretation of Delillo's Videotape is that he is attempting to show his audience how specific videos attract viewers because they are unpredictable, suspenseful, and bring a sense of realness to the world.

DeLillo is trying to show his audience how videos that are unpredictable attract the attention of the public. He mentions this several times in his text. A good example would be when Delillo said "There's something here that speaks to you directly, saying terrible things about forces beyond your control, lines of intersection that cut through history and logic and every reasonable layer of human expectation (DeLillo, 61)." This is Delillo's way of saying how unpredictable life can be. When he says "forces beyond your control" he is referring to the unpredictable nature of life (DeLillo, 61). According to Delillo, this is one reason people are attracted to the videotape. He is stating that people can not look away because it was simply an accident that the young girl stumbled across this situation in the first place. This strikes fear into the public because they could also find themselves in this situation at any given point. DeLillo also says "There is a crude power operating here. A sense of the random, the amateurish, the accidental, the impending (DeLillo, 60)." The crude power DeLillo is referring to here is the unpredictability of the situation. At first glance of the video no one would have guessed what was going to happen. It can even go as far as to say that not even the girl could have expected what was going to happen. This crude power of unpredictability has an effect on people.    

Delillo is also trying to show his audience how videos that are suspenseful attract the attention of the public. He states that videos with suspense keep the viewer watching because they want to see how it concludes. This is exactly how he sees the videotape, as DeLillo clearly states, "But there is also an element of suspense. You keep on looking not because you know something is going to happen   of course you do know something is going to happen and you do look for that reason (DeLillo, 60)." This proves my previous statement. Suspense helps specific videos like the one Delillo is describing become hard to turn away from. Even if the video is insanely boring, people will continue to watch the video because of the suspense. It is as if the suspense has grabbed onto the person watching and makes them interested.

Lastly, Delillo is trying to show his audience how videos that have a sense of realness attract the attention of the public. Out of all of the points DeLillo states, this one is by far his largest and most important point. He speaks of the realness of the video on multiple occasions, for example: "You are looking into the mind of a home video. It is innocent, it is aimless, it is determined, it is real (DeLillo, 60)." In Delillo's eyes, the sense of realness is the main cause to why people are attracted to the videotape. The urgency and the realness work together to draw the attention of the reader. "And this is another reason why you keep on looking. The tape has a searing realness (DeLillo, 61)."  This quote could not more accurately describe what Delillo is trying to say. He honestly believes the realness is why people keep on looking. For most instances violence like this can only be found in movies. These movies are okay for the human eye to watch because they understand it is not real. The videotape however defies this statement. This is something that actually happened, it is real and because of that realness it strikes fear into the public. People while watching this video understand now that it does not just happen in the movies. 

In conclusion, Delillo thinks that videos of which are unpredictable, suspenseful, and videos that bring a sense of realness, attract the attention of viewers and make them keep watching the video over and over again. Delillo does however leave the reader on a strange note. He ends the short story by saying "The horror freezes your soul but this doesn't mean that you want them to stop (DeLillo, 63)." This can bring up a lot of questions. What exactly does Delillo mean when he says this? He is simply saying how the public is obsessed with videos like this. He is saying that we as a human race hate seeing videos as disturbing as the one he is describing but we do not want news crews to stop showing them. For some strange, unknown reason the public is attracted to videos like this. This is how Delillo has expected his short story to be interpreted. People may hate hearing about the tragic events that happen everyday, but they can not help but watch when the videos are actually played. This is a result of three things, being unpredictable, suspenseful and real. DeLillo understands this and that is why he wrote this story. He is trying to show the reader how he reacts when he sees disturbing real videos and hopes the reader can relate to it. This is the reasoning behind this piece. 

