The point is made that many young children often imitate or reenact what they observe without conscious thought. In one physiological experiment, it was found true in many cases that infants and toddlers mimic other people. Therefore the source of violent behavior cannot be pin pointed, and cannot be traced solely back to media portrayals of violence. The question is wide open for psychologists and scientists to answer. .
Violence has even crept its way into children's fairy tales. Although it may seem absurd, there is justification for it being there. From The Uses of Enchantment, Bettelheim proposes there is a deep and profound meaning in the fairy tales. The violence serves a purpose by helping guide the child on a path. Violence is used because it is very easily distinguished as a bad thing. From all this, a child can learn to grow, have more self-respect, conquer anxieties and fears, and learn to cope with reality. A child does so by resolving problems on his own by applying the lessons learned from the fairy tales to similar situations presented in the fairy tale. In response to Bettelheim, a woman speaking of her experience fairy tales informs the reader that when she was a young girl she would depend on her older brother; when she was told the story of "Hansel and Gretel- she became fascinated with the tale as a result. However, despite her interest, there was no immediate modification on her character. After revisiting the fable at an older age she was able to free herself from her crutch and became independent, displacing any connection between her and the fairy tale. Therefore by removing the violence from a fable or fairy tale will only serve to destroy its magically complex fabric that enables children to develop.
When violence is intended for entertainment purposes only, we should just leave it at that. Empirically, entertainment is something that amuses or pleases and so we should enjoy the violence created for entertainment as it was meant to be.
