Themes and message

Grief and guilt

One of the major themes of “Let’s Go to the Videotape” written by Fiona Maazel is grief and guilt - two emotions which are sometimes interlinked.

After the sudden death of his wife, Nick struggles with facing his feelings of grief. He avoids talking about the accident with his son Gus or with his friends. He is also sceptical of seeking help or connecting with other people who have similar experiences. Therefore, he refuses to go to support groups because he thinks they “contrived relationships among people whose only shared interest was grief” (l. 66). 

However, Nick is painfully aware that his life is ruled by grief. After winning the TV show, he starts using social media to cheer up and communicate his feelings, but this also enables him to further avoid dealing with the darker sides to his son’s and his own loss.

Gus is obviously affected by the accident and grieves over the loss of his his mother. After the accident, he develops a speech impediment (l. 46). He also...