Analysis Of Lets Go To The Videotape By Fiona Maazel

People handle the loss of a love one differently, there are some people who let their feelings be known to the public while there are others who repress their grief. Gus, from the short story “Lets go to the Videotape” by Fiona Maazel, does not know how to deal with the deal of his mother. The short story starts off with Nick, the father, filming Gus falling off of his bike and putting it up online. It receives enough attention to get a spot on America’s Funniest Home Videos. After winning the show, Gus gets bullied at school while Nick becomes addicted to the amount of attention he is getting from other people in a similar situation. Gus tries to get the attention of his father by making a video, instead of listening to what his son is saying, …show more content…
The role of a tradtional mother is to provide emotional support. Gus still has his father, nick, but he is too busy dealing with his own problems to tend to Gus’ needs. The narrator states, “That night, he put him to bed with the same bear Gus has slept with every night since his mom died.” (Maazel 181). It has been proven by Harry Harlow, a psychologist, that newborn babies prefer a source of comfort rather and basic needs. While Nick is supplying Gus with the basic biological needs, he cannot give the love and affection that Gus’s mother would have given him. Without anyone for emotional support, Gus has gotten stuck on the fourth stage of denial, depression. When a loved one dies people will go through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In the three years that have passed Gus went through the first few stages but got stuck on the stage of depression. Most children do not know what depression is. When I was in elementary school people would tell us that we would get over it. Gus probably feels that it is just a phase and he will get over it eventually. However, that is not true people do not get over depression, it stays with them until they recieve proper help. Since Gus is not getting any help the depression will never go …show more content…
It is common for working parents to neglect their children whether it is intentional or not. Once Nick started getting more into social media, he started to forget about his son’s need. After Gus finished talking to his dad, “But Nick had already hit upload. And watched the friends roll in.” (Maazel 191). His dad craves attention from other people and his son has turned into an outlet for getting attention. After, the first initial burst of attention Nick has gotten, he is not addicted to getting that feeling again. However, it comes at the cost of completely disregarding his son. To Nick it may seem like he is helping but throughout the story Gus begins to distance himself from his father. It is not surprising to see them this apart because it has been established that the father has not gotten over the death of his wife. So he has no way of helping his son. Gus does not see his father as a father, instead he sees him as a guardian, at most. This has a negative effect as he does not have a strong enough bond to let his father know that his actions are wrong and it needs to stop. This isolation from his father has made Gus lonely. With no one to talk to Gus has to rely on a giant teddy bear to comfort him when he is feeling down. During a conversation between Nick and Gus, Nick states, “Don’t you want me to help… But Gus began to cry” (Maazel 187). Gus has his emotions bottled up inside and he has