Media presentations of justified violencemay also change the belief that violent behavior is wrong, encouraging the development of pro-violence attitudes. […] Violence is acceptable because it is not real, therefore "victims" do not really suffer (Funk et al. 26).

Given this serious -- and well-documented -- consequence of even imaginary violence, writers and readers of fairy tales should exercise care that their depictions of violence are truly relevant to the moralistic issues at stake. The "blood in the shoe" must be justified; otherwise, it simply desensitizes the (often juvenile) reader to no real advantage.

Works Cited

Anderson, Craig a., Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, and Ellen Wartella. "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth." Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4.3 (2003): 81-110. Print.

Bascom, William. "Cinderella in Africa." Cinderella: A Casebook. Ed. Alan Dundes. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin...
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