With the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ YA novel The Hunger Games about to hit theaters, Americans are getting more comfortable with the idea of a reality competition in which ordinary kids are challenged to fight to the death. But Collins’ book trilogy, as well received as it has been, did not originate the notion of a dystopia in which innocents are conscripted into a televised battle for their lives: The Hunger Games is part of a long tradition that also includes The Running Man.