Obsession or Perversion: Are the Zapruder Parodies All Bad?

The videos presented reflect a wide range of takes on the Zapruder film, some seemingly pointless except to be offensive, and others with a bit more tact and perhaps an appropriate level of humor. Perhaps, then, these videos reflect an ongoing attempt to find some meaning or relevance in the footage that so horribly shook the American people.

While some of these videos are very obviously in poor taste, the videos like the Seinfeld clip and the strange musical about finding a place for common ground, though mocking the ways in which the government and the American people responded to the assassination, may actually reflect a lingering frustration that Kennedy’s death has remained a mystery for as long as it has— and, in some trivial way, may be an attempt to honor him. The fact that so many people continue to make and watch videos about the death of a figure that lived so long ago is evidence of the indestructible power of the JFK image.

Ultimately, the fact that his death remains such a popular topic— as evidenced by its presence on a site that has only existed for less than a decade— arguably gives Kennedy’s death, and his life, more meaning. This unconventional means of honoring an American hero may be strange, but it also is fitting, for in his lifetime Kennedy and his family had an incredibly significant presence in Hollywood and the media.

Abraham Zapruder’s greatest fears of JFK’s assassination being perverted may have been realized. However, it may be that very perversion of Kennedy that has kept him in the hearts of Americans for so long. Fifty years after his death, the nation seems to have reached a point at which it is okay to mock the obsession with the iconic life and death of Kennedy – but, in doing so, continue a legacy of fascination and even respect for that Ol’ Jack Magic.