Less Than Zero: The Book vs. the Film

Feb 13, 2012
Genna Rivieccio

Promotional poster for 1987's Less Than Zero - Wikipedia

Bret Easton Ellis' indelible first novel was a mirror of the emptiness of 80s L.A. Its adaptation into a script in 1987 proved that vapidity all too well.

With the rare distinction of becoming a published novelist while still attending Bennington at the age of twenty-one, the credibility and honesty of Less Than Zero rested upon the rare quality--at least in the literary world--of Bret Easton Ellis' youth. Centering around an apathetic 18-year-old named Clay who returns to Los Angeles from Camden College in New Hampshire, Less Than Zero recounts the vapidity of human existence and relationships. There is perhaps no better time period or geographical location than the 1980s in Los Angeles to display such a concept. While the book is able to capture this fact in great detail, the film extrapolates the most salacious moments and transforms them into a movie that looks as though it was designed to be one long music video that might have been on MTV in 1987.

People Are Afraid to Merge on the Freeways in Los Angeles

There may be no other opening line to a contemporary novel as well-recognized as "People are afraid to merge on the freeways in Los Angeles." The very fact that this line is missing from the introduction of Marek Kanievska's Less Than Zero indicates the divergent direction his film takes from the book. Rather than beginning the film with Blair (Jamie Gertz) picking up Clay (Andrew McCarthy) from LAX after months of being apart at different schools, screenwriter Harley Peyton opts for a scene of Blair, Clay, and Julian (Robert Downey Jr.) at their graduation ceremony. To set the tone of the "me" generation, the words of the key note speaker offscreen assert, "I wish you all the health and prosperity you desire." In response, the crowd of graduates shouts, "We want money!" It isn't the most subtle expression of a theme.

Clay's Out of Body Experiences

Another aspect of the novel that outshines the film is Ellis' willingness to paint as macabre a portrait as possible. Clay roams from one surreal locale to another as he tries fruitlessly to reconnect with his friends.

In fact, all of his exchanges with those he went to high school with are palpably vacant, one such example being when he goes to retrieve a vest from Kim's (a mutual friend of Blair's): "What have you been doing?' I ask. 'What have you been doing?' she asks back. I don't say anything. She looks up , bewildered. 'Come on, Clay, tell me.' She looks through the pile of clothes. 'You must do something." The problem is, Clay doesn't do anything. That's supposed to be the entire benefit of being young and affluent, though, as the book goes on, we see that these qualities are more of a hindrance than a help to one's psyche. It is in this trait that both the book and the film are similar.

The events that take place on Clay's holiday become increasingly extreme, including casual Polaroids taken of one of their friends, Muriel, shooting up heroin at a New Year's Eve party, watching a snuff movie at a different party where no one seems to exhibit any kind of emotional response to it, Clay being forced to watch Julian as he prostitutes himself in order to repay his drug debt to Rip (James Spader), the chief drug dealer of their inner circle, and, most notoriously, a 12-year-old girl being used as a sex slave at Rip's penthouse, where he encourages his friends to sexually abuse her as they wish.

All of the aforementioned scenes are, obviously, extracted from the film as they would have been much too controversial for a mainstream Hollywood movie.

The Absence of Palms Springs Flashbacks

Even though the film employs the flashback method for the purpose of showing how close Julian, Blair, and Clay used to be, it fails to address one of the major plot points of the novel, which is the detached nature of Clay's family members as they watch his grandmother die of pancreatic cancer on a family trip together.

Additionally, Clay's flashback to a conversation he had with Blair from a phone booth in Palm Desert right before he is about to leave for Camden is an integral explanation for what contributed to their breakup. He implores her not to go away on a trip to New York and she, likewise, begs him not to go to school on the east coast. Neither one can acquiesce to the other's request, causing Clay to cease all communication with her for four months until returning for Christmas break.

Blair and Julian

The film version of Less Than Zero infers that Blair and Julian had an affair while Clay was away. The book, however, never addresses any such tryst. Though it is possible Blair and Julian were together at one time or another, considering the incestuous nature of Clay's group of friends, that point is not stressed upon as heavily as it is in the movie.

Julian himself is also an entirely different character in the movie--one with a stronger moral compass and a far greater tendency toward feeling guilt.

The Impossibility of a Nihilistic Book Being Translated to Film

The topic of feelings raises another key issue with the adaptation of Less Than Zero. In trying to create likable characters, the entire concept of the book is altered. Ellis himself commented that there was very little kindredness between the novel and the film, apart from the names of the characters and the isolated setting of Los Angeles.

The extreme disaffection Clay feels is utterly lacking in the movie. In one scene from the novel, Clay observes, "There are mostly young boys in the house and they all look the same: Thin, tan bodies, short blond hair, blank look in the blue eyes, same empty toneless voices, and then I start to wonder if I look exactly like them." Such grudging contempt for the meaninglessness of Clay's (and everyone he knows) existence could not have possibly been translated to a movie produced by a major studio.

It all comes down to one of the final exchanges between Blair and Clay, in which she asks, "What do you care about? What makes you happy?,' a question Clay replies to without missing a beat: 'Nothing. Nothing makes me happy." A movie about someone like that could never be fathomed by anyone looking to turn a profit at the box office.