Don Delillo's "Videotape"

Wow. This could explain the scene in many households in America. I am even going to go out on a limb and say this could happen in any household throughout the world that has the ability to watch television and the news. There is some sort of tragic pleasure in all of us. It is why we all take a look at the car wreck we are passing. It is why we further share the information of how bad the wreck was with someone else. Upon reading this I immediately thought of my sister. She is affectionately dubbed the "Debbie Downer" of the family because she always has the most depressing stories to tell. After hearing her stories you either feel like crying or kicking a whole in the wall. They are that extreme. They typically involve children like this story. That was perhaps the most depressing aspect of this whole narration. The little girl whose innocence was obscenely shattered from a simple pleasure that she stumbled upon. I have a fascination with photographs, I snap pictures of perhaps the most innate of objects just because they are there. On that level, I could identify with the girl. However, I might find it fascinating to accidentally snap a photograph of something horrific. That seems sick, but how many of us are willing to admit that same truth? Tragic pleasure is a very real and very puzzling phenomenon. I have a theory, when someone dies and they go see the family at the wake (viewing) and they say "I am so sorry for your loss", really they are saying "I am so glad that I'm not in your place right now". But then again, you have some people that react to people dying as if that person was their best friend, when they probably only said two words to the person in the whole of their lifetime. That angers me. It is like they are infringing on someone else's right to grieve, their right to tragedy. Maybe this a little too broad of a tie-in, but in saying all that he did through the short story of "Videotape" I feel like Don Delillo would agree with my analysis.


This music video is the perfect accompaniment for this work because it speaks of tragedy as being beautiful. It is a crazy idea, but how often do we think of tragedy in such a way? Without realizing it?