Over the last three or four decades the invention and improvement of home video has had a profound impact on the world.  Current events have shown that there is a camera around every turn.   From 9/11 to dancing cats, home videos have changed the way we look at and how fast we exposed to the worlds characteristics.  In early 1994, Don Dellilo wrote a short story that touched on this effect.  It is the story of a crime committed on the Texas highways in the 1980s and 90s.   The story reflects how Dellilo uses the perspective of home video to drive home his point of how fragile life is by making it more relatable to the reader. 

Dellilo is a novelist whose focus is on the dangers of modern life and with "Videotape" he shows us how fragile life is.  The story opens talking about kids and how they are fascinated by the idea of recording life in something other than just their eyes.  He talks about how their curious minds leads them to expose different aspects of their personal lives. In DeLillo's words "They learn to see things twice".  The fourth paragraph is where the story really begins.  We as readers learn that a young 12 year old girl is behind the camera for this story.  The girl is just a innocent witness to the story that is about to occur right in front of her eyes.  The man in front of her camera is a middle aged man in a polo.  The man seems friendly and waves at the little girl filming the stranger in the car next to her. Then the purpose of the story starts to unravel and it is introduced into the story that there is going to be a homicide somewhere in the video.  

The importance of these first paragraphs of the story are detrimental to the meaning of the story.  It makes us as readers get a clear picture of what is happening in the viewer's eyes.  These opening few paragraphs make this story relatable to anyone by showing how normal everything by saying things like "It is just a kid" and "There is nothing else to see."  It also sets clear imagery for the rest of the story.   The end where it introduces a plot twist of crime lets us look for what is going to happen for the rest of the story adding suspense.  It also makes us feel sympathize with the girl because of what she is about to witness and it also makes us want to see that.  

The narrator of the story then goes into a viewer's feelings when viewing raw footage like this.  How we are waiting for something bad to happen when viewing this and it holds us on the edge of the seat. According to the narrator "you do know something is going to happen and you do look for that reason".  He is addressing the way the video keeps us glued in waiting for the inevitable horror to happen in front of our eyes.  It's like watching a train wreck.  It's the reason we watch horror movies and why some people watch the terrible isis beheading videos.  There is something in human nature that loves to see horror.  After that the narrator goes back into expressing the innocence of the little girl shooting the footage.  The little girl doesn't know how or even that something tragic is going to be recorded in the next moments. She just sees this as a "game" like many young kids find different ways to entertain themselves on long car rides.    All she knows is that a friendly man in the car beside her is posing for her camera and it brings her joy.  .

Now it is made apparent that the narrator of the story has seen the footage before and therefore knows that the horror is coming up soon.  The narrator knows that in moments a man's life will end in front of his very eyes and unfortunately that little girls very curious eyes.  The narrator starts to beckon for his wife to come see the horror that is about to unfold in front of the camera.   He is calling for his wife to come see the horror like it is some kind awesome feat that is just completely unbelievable.  Then it happens. The nice friendly man gets struck by a bullet out of nowhere and the girl is left to live with that horror.  The man's car drifts slowly to the guardrail and then the video ends.   The narrator then goes into how this has been a reoccurring tragedy on the Texas highways for some amount of time.  This is the first time that video has captured the incident and the TV stations were airing the homicide.  The narrator then goes inside of his own thoughts after seeing something so horrifying and gruesome.  He talks about how one feels watching another man taken from this world so unexpectedly.  

DeLillo alludes to how fragile life is several times in this short story while mostly when he wrapping the story up.  The sentence that sums his purpose for "Videotape" best is found in paragraph 30 where he says "this is the risk of Existing".   He is asking himself why he wants his wife to see such a tragic thing and then wonders if he wants her to see the risk of existing.   One interprets that to mean that he means the risk of existing is the fact that you can perish at any moment.  That the next day is never promised and always in jeopardy.  As long as we are alive then there is always something that can go wrong.  

DeLillo also states "every breath you take has two possible endings" (Pa. 35) in relation to the fragility of life.   The fact that you can take a breath and be fine or you can take a breath and that be your last breath.  The thought that one day we all take our last breath is something that haunts everyone at some point.  Especially in today's world, there is no way of knowing something bizarre won't happen and you be taken away from this world?  Most Religions claim that we all have a due date that is pre-determined but we as mortals have no idea of when that might be and how that might come.  That is a scary thought for most people.   The man driving had no idea a piece of lead flying at high speeds was going to penetrate is body and end the life he had.  Maybe that guy woke up and knew he was going to go somewhere.  Maybe he knew he was going to get onto the highway.  Perhaps even he knew that a serial killer was on the loose.  However that man had no way of knowing that his end was going to be on the highway and he was going to be the latest victim.  DeLillo points at how sobering of a fact death is for us.  He never says that we should be thankful for our life or that we should wake up and thank some deity for blessing us with another day.  However after your read a story like "Videotape," I'm not sure how you can't be humbled and thankful for the day.  DeLillo is a writer who points to the dangers of the modern world.  Something I find very similar to the point he is conveying is the recent murders of the reporters in Virginia.  Those were filmed and completely unexpected and show the fragility of life just as well as the video of the Texas highway murder.  Those two people and the cameraman had no idea what was about to happen but a change of fate took them from this world. 

We all as people and especially as young Americans underestimate death.  The rawness of home video catching tragedy brings the fragility of life into perspective for us.  That's what the purpose of DeLillo's "Videotape" is.  It brings us down from the invincible feeling we all possess.  Anything can happen at anytime.

