In a close reading of the short story Videotape by Don DeLillo, it is evident in numerous ways that the author attempts to convey to his readers that technology destroys innocence and promotes violence. DeLillo uses symbolism throughout the story by originally depicting the video camera as an unimportant child's play thing and then later revealing it as a tool for uncovering the truth and discovering reality. His multiple characters throughout the story act as different perspectives on the same situation; the young girl is shown losing her innocence on the world, the Texas Highway killer exists purely because of the new "taping and playing" culture, and the man watching with his wife on their television is a prime example of how violent news clips have desensitized the public. Each character demonstrates the effect one videotape can have. 

DeLillo creates a vast amount of symbolism around the videotape and video camera by subtly revealing the devices' true purposes to his readers. Right from the beginning of the story, he underplays the video camera as a toy and associates it as an object often seen in a child's hands on family road trips. Immediately he describes imagery that gives the object an innocent connotation and portrays the videotapes as meaningless films of everyday life taken by a child who has begun to explore their surroundings. Within the first sentences of his piece, he describes the scene at hand in the most simplistic way possible saying "It is just a kid aiming her camera through the rear window of the family car at the windshield of the car behind her" (DeLillo 59). As the story carries on, the reader begins to realize that the once simple video camera is in fact a tool to shed away the child's innocence. Before the tape goes on to reveal a homicide, the turning point for the video camera is when DeLillo writes, "This is a children's story about straying too far from home. But it isn't the family car that serves as the instrument of the child's curiosity, her inclination to explore. It is the camera that puts her in the tale" (DeLillo 61). This shows the reader that not only does the video camera have far more meaning than being the sidekick on family road trips, but it is in fact the primary component at fault to the demise of the young girl's naivety.

One of the main characters of the story is the young girl who goes on to lose her fragile innocence of the world. At the start of the passage she is generalized into a group of all the other children with video cameras throughout history who only focus on videotaping whatever random thing sparks their interest for a moment, whether it is mom fresh out of the shower or someone on the toilet. The child starts off videotaping a random man in the car driving behind her, however, without her knowing and by some fate far beyond her control, she ends up videotaping something that will change her forever. "It is a homicide recorded by a child who thought she was doing something simple and maybe halfway clever" (DeLillo 60) perfectly depicts her naive mindset going into the situation. As the man is shot in the head and dies right in front of her she shocks the reader by continuing to roll the tape. Her innocence is stripped in this very moment when she reacts to such horror with calmness and poise far beyond her years, "the girl is seeing this cold and you have to marvel at the fact that she keeps the tape rolling" (DeLillo 62). At that moment, she is no longer a child playing with a video camera, she is a witness to the tenth or eleventh homicide committed by the Texas Highway Killer holding the very device that turned her into the "Video Kid" (DeLillo 63).

Another important factor this short story touches upon is the affect technology has made on society and the affect one video tape had on a group of people. The Texas Highway Killer is a prime example of how the invention of technology and video cameras has condoned violent behavior. DeLillo writes, "He commits the crimes as if they were a form of taped-and-played event. The crimes are inseparable from the idea of taping and playing" (DeLillo 62). This statement acts to persuade readers that without such technology, crimes like this would not be committed. The killer's motivations are skeptical, but they are purely committing these acts for some sort of anonymous popularity or infamy, very well knowing that these events will be shared and broadcasted with a chaotic range of reactions. When referring to the number of victims slain by the Texas Highway Killer, it is said that, "The number is uncertain because the police believe that one of the shootings may have been a copycat crime" (DeLillo 62). This statement alone is the perfect example of how the outcome of sharing videotapes of violent crimes committed by crazy killers can inspire other mentally unstable people to do the same thing.

Another crucial viewpoint to the story is that of the man, most likely watching the videotape on a news channel from his couch. His perspective supports DeLillo's message that the public has become desensitized to horrific things they see on camera. The man continues to call for his wife to come watch the video as well, using terms such as "Now here is where he gets it" (DeLillo 61), as if people dying on camera is an everyday occurrence. The man keeps telling himself that the video is real, that it is actual footage from real life. The narrator says, "You want your wife to see it because it is real this time, not fancy movie violence" (DeLillo 62) which goes to show how accustomed the public is to seeing violent footage that, even if it is real, there is an automatic disconnect when watching through a television or other electronic device. DeLillo ends the story with, "The horror freezes your soul but this doesn't mean that you want them to stop" (DeLillo 63). This statement sums up the public's mindset when watching videotapes by demonstrating that the man is terrified as a result of watching another man shot in the head yet he continues to watch and will continue to watch other videotapes like this one because it has become a source of entertainment. 

DeLillo's various characters' viewpoints give his short story a very unique and intriguing component. He takes four different characters including the young girl, the killer, the victim, and the man from his couch, and connects them all with one simple videotape. He goes on to show that things such as a videotape and a video camera can have a huge effect on a group of people, even though they are so often overlooked. Videotape acted as an interesting short story to demonstrate how technology destroys innocence and promotes violence, which oddly enough, has become even more evident as technology has advanced.

