Videotape Analysis

This song has been interpreted in many different ways. I have read interpretations in the past were the song was written off as nothing more than a suicide note, or a reference to the historical account of Johann Georg Faust who wagered his soul with the Devil for happiness in his life, only to regret it in the end. My interpretation of the song “Videotape” is that of a man nearing his final days and reliving the memories of his life, how he lived, and struggling with his own sense of self-worth as described in Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development, more specifically the developmental period of late adulthood (King Chapter 9 page 308). The man’s motivation for recounting these memories in his final days is an effort on his part

The videotape is an old format and is seldom used anymore; this effectively reflects the age of the man in the song. Secondly the videotape can be played back, ensuring his collective memories are being played out for his loved ones multiple times, and eventually be viewed overall in a positive light. The song ends with the man accepting his impending place in the after life with optimism and relief. Maybe because he feels as though he was able to finally reveal to his loved ones his true feelings through his collection of memories, or maybe it is because he somehow found the courage to finally confront the unspeakable wrong he wasn’t able to while alive. I love this song for what it means to me and how it considers the life story approach to identity developed by Dan McAdams (King Chapter 12 page 412). Ultimately the man is considering everything in his past life in an attempt to define how he is remembered but how he remembers himself. We will all have a judgment day and some of our unspeakable wrongs will be bigger then others, but I think will all want to be remembered for the good in our lives it is just unfortunate that our society attempt to tip the scales in our favor when it is far to