Popular teenage literature and film

A scene from "The Hunger Game"

Warning: this may be disturbing to some.

A new teenage movie is being released called “The Hunger Game”.  It is set in post-apocalyptic America called Panem, where teenagers aged 12 to 18 are selected (via lottery) and forced into an annual televised battle to the death (murdering each other). The main character is a 16 year old girl called Katriss who takes the place of her sister to play the "game". The lone survivor (the winner) will return home to wealth and fame. Twenty-three other teenagers will died (violently) as a result of this game.  When two remain, one must die.  Katriss and Peeta (who are friends) threaten the game organisers with suicide and are both allow to live - for now.   The game is staged as entertainment for the rich who are bored with their lives. 

The book (part of a trilogy) on which the film has been based has become a worldwide sensation with more than 26 million copies sold thus far.  This follows on the footsteps of other teenage book/film best sellers including “The Twilight series” and the “Harry Potter series”.  All aimed at the teenage market . . . murder, violence, romance, vampires, wizards, evil . . .  topics for vulnerable young minds?

The Hunger Game trilogy is considered suitable for readers 13 plus and the film opens in the US with a PG-13 rating, whilst in Australia it has been given an M classification (recommended for mature audiences - 15+).  Does this story sound suitable for a 13 year old? Not in my book, in fact I think this is adult reading and should not be aimed or marketed at teenagers.

According to an article in The Age:  The violent nature of the story has been a concern since the first part of the trilogy published in September 2008. Critics were concerned the story of children forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of others was too brutal for young readers. Crow says that determining whether the books are too violent really depends on the child.  "Parents will have to judge. It's how much their parents think they can take. There are some adults who don't want to read the books because of the graphic elements. They already see a lot of violence on TV and they don't want to be exposed to a lot more," Crow says.

Would you want your teenager reading a book (or watching the film) where 24 teenagers are forced to kill each? Gruesome, disturbing scenes that must linger in their minds. Unfortunately most parents don’t know what their teens are reading/watching or investigate the book in any great detail to see if it is too violent or graphic, therefore their teen is highly likely to read it. Other parents don't have an issue with these books and encourage their teens to read them, even buying the books as gifts and parents will read the books at the same time as their child.

Do we really need to fill our teenagers heads with this sort of violence's.  Our children are surrounded by violence everyday, just turn on the TV to see stories of death in the Middle East, shootings in our neighbours, people being bashed and left for dead.  Why are we so fascinated (addicted) in violence, crime and tragedy and why do adult writers think that young people will benefit from read these books? 

Lets try and keep our children's minds as pure as possible for as long as possible.  I know that some of the books I read as a teenager (in secret) still linger in my mind today . . . and yes, for all the wrong reasons.