 Much critical attention has been given to the development of the characters from the original book , 25 years on . One review opined that " [ Ellis ' ] characters are incapable of growth . They cannot credibly find Jesus or even see a skilled psychologist or take the right medication to fend off despair . They are bound to be American psychos . " Their development , some critics have observed , illuminates the ways they have not developed as people ; Clay is , for example , " in mind and spirit if not quite in body , destined to remain unchanged , undeveloped , unlikable and unloved . " In Less Than Zero , though the characters of the novel compose for some " the most hollow and vapid representation of the MTV generation one could possibly imagine " , they remained to other reviewers " particularly sympathetic " . Like the novel , its characters were equally cultural milestones , described by a reviewer as " seminal characters " ( of American fiction ) . On the subject of the 1987 film , Clay describes that " the parents who ran the studio would [ n 't ] ever expose their children in the same black light the book did " . To Bill Eichenberger , this shows how " the children have become the parents , writing scripts and producing movies , still imprisoned by Hollywood 's youth and drug cultures – but now looking at things from the outside in . " Eisinger comments for the New York Press , that while " they 're in careers now and new relationships and different states of mind ... their preoccupations are just the same . " 
