Copycat death

A sad history of life — and death — imitating art - Opinion

This is an interesting commentary piece from The Age about the history of copycat suicides (that follow fictional ones.) I did not know that this had such a well established history.

The story is in reponse to the call for a new Australian film, about teenage angst, to have its "R" rating reduced. (I guess because some adults think that teens undergoing teen angst really want to watch other teens having the same problems. Well, that's a little unfair, I suppose they think it has an educative effect. But isn't it a fair bet that the great majority of teenagers who would be interested in seeing it would be the type who are already sympathetic to the type of issues portrayed and don't need to learn more about it?)