History YMMV / Holes

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Due to Brian/Twitch's constant, seemingly involuntary twitching, most fans interpret that he has Tourette's syndrome.

** When Stanley and Zero come back to camp Green Lake, The Warden, Mr. Pendanski, and Mr. Sir show a complete lack of concern when the boys are covered with yellow-spotted lizards.
*** Mr. Sir (Mr. Pendanski in the film), when not only does he show an appalling lack of concern when he sees the lizards, then has the nerve to taunt Stanley and say his lawyer proved him innocent, and gloat, "too bad you weren't there for it!" That's right, he has absolutely ''no remorse'' over the fact that he just put a completely innocent child who didn't deserve any form of punishment through all that torment, and all the blood, sweat, and tears involved with it. Granted it isn't terribly out of character, but still.

*** Mr. Sir (Mr. Pendanski in the film), when not only does he show an appalling lack of concern when he sees the lizards, then has the nerve to taunt Stanley and say his lawyer proved him innocent, and gloat "too bad you weren't there for it!"]] That's right, he has absolutely ''no remorse'' over the fact that he just put a completely innocent child who didn't deserve any form of punishment through all that torment, and all the blood, sweat, and tears involved with it]]. Granted it isn't terribly out of character, but still.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Whether you like the book or not, ''everyone'' remembers Katherine and Sam, and they're nearly universally-beloved in the fandom. Katherine even still has fans after she becomes Kissin' Kate Barlow (some people loved her even ''more'' after that). It also helps that the film gives her AdaptationalHeroism, only killing people who were part of the lynch mob. This is all despite the fact that they're not main characters, just part of the backstory element.

* MemeticMutation

* NarmCharm: "Dig It." On paper, the movie adaptation of a book like ''Holes'' having a ThemeTuneRap performed by its all-teen cast sounds like a TotallyRadical gimmick to attract the "fellow kids". In practice, however, the actors are clearly are musically capable enough to pull it off and the whole thing fits the story to a tee. On top of that, the beat is insanely catchy and the overall production rock solid, turning what could have been a phoned-in credits theme into arguably the most memorable addition to an already highly regarded soundtrack.

** [[https://youtu.be/SJcYPk-1oXI This scene has become a meme on tiktok.]]

* MemeticBadass: Sam the onion picker can fix anything. He could even fix a broken marriage, according to WebVideo/TwentyFourFramesOfNick.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Fiction Plane's "If Only" takes one of the many, many plot points that made the book so memorable and turns it into a gorgeous {{alternative rock}} ballad.

** In the movie, Mr. Sir getting arrested for violating his parole.

** Zero smacking Mr. Pendanski in the face with a shovel after [[TheDogBitesBack one insults too many]]

** Why did Kissin' Kate spare Stanley Yelnats I's life when she robbed him? Did she [[ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter sense that he was a good man]]? Did she take pity on him for being an immigrant from Eastern Europe, which [[DeliberateValuesDissonance would have made him part of an outgroup]] like her African-American lover Sam? Or did she develop a hatred of the rich due to Trout Walker's cruelty and decide that [[CruelMercy letting him die in the desert would be worse than just shooting him]]? Or could his being spared have something to do with the Yelnats curse?

* NarmCharm: "Dig It." On paper, the movie adaptation of a book like ''Holes'' having a ThemeTuneRap performed by its all-teen cast sounds like a TotallyRadical gimmick to attract the "fellow kids". In practice, however, the actors are clearly are musically capable enough to pull it off and the whole thing fits the story to a tee.

* MemeticBadass: Sam the onion picker can fix anything. He could even fix a broken marriage, according to Twentyfour frames of Nick.

** The Walkers' backstory seems to have the message of KnowWhenToFoldEm when something you want is difficult if not impossible to attain. Trout starts the whole fiasco by hitting on Kate Barlow when she's Miss Katherine, schoolteacher, and she politely turns him down in favor of giving him an education. When he realizes he can't have her, he burns down the schoolhouse and kills Sam, which may have led to Green Lake suffering a drought for a century as punishment for his grievous sin. Then he tries to interrogate Kate twenty years later for her bank robbery loot; her response is to let a yellow-spotted lizard bite her and to curse him that his children and grandchildren will ''never'' find the treasure. In his obsession, [[spoiler:he spent his final years as a miserable and obsessed old man and used his own granddaughter as a penal laborer. Ms. Walker, even knowing that her grandfather was an obsessed paranoiac, kept up the crusade by using legal child labor rather than selling the land, which she was eventually forced to do, and starting a new life, which led to her also becoming an angry and miserable person]]. If they had just given up and pursued other ventures, they probably would have been happier.
** The book and movie can both be seen as taking a swipe at the rationale of punitive sentencing and the prison-industrial complex. Forcing the kids to dig holes all day doesn't actually solve the problems that led them to commit crimes, and many of kids are effectively stuck on a chain gang for crimes that aren't all that serious. [[spoiler: The fact that the Warden's real goal is to use kids digging holes to find treasure]] is a subtle reference to how prison labor is often for the purposes of enriching corrupt officials and businesspeople, not actually helping convicts better themselves or escape the conditions that led them to crime. Meanwhile, Stanley actually does something to help Hector better himself: teaching him how to read, and is told not to by the prison staff who only see Hector as being good for digging. [[spoiler: Hector's new reading skills end up saving the day when he proves the treasure chest belongs to Stanley, clearing them of any charges of theft and allowing them to leave Camp Green Lake]].

** Why did Kissin' Kate spare Stanley Yelnats I's life when she robbed him? Did she [[ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter sense that he was a good man]]? Did she take pity on him for being an immigrant from Eastern Europe, which [[DeliberateValuesDissonance would have made him part of an outgroup]] like [[spoiler:her African-American lover Sam]]? Or did she develop a hatred of the rich due to [[spoiler:Trout Walker's cruelty]] and decide that [[CruelMercy letting him die in the desert would be worse than just shooting him]]? Or could his being spared have something to do with the Yelnats curse?
** Did Trout ever feel remorse for what he did to Sam and Kate? His last scene in the movie is ordering his granddaughter, [[spoiler:a young Ms. Walker]], to keep digging for the treasure, hinting at that point it's a compulsive obsession brought about by her DyingCurse rather than a matter of principle.

** [[spoiler:Zero]] smacking [[spoiler:Mr. Pendanski]] in the face with a shovel after [[spoiler:[[TheDogBitesBack one insults too many]]]]
** [[spoiler:Stanley denying the Warden a chance to see what's in the suitcase (chest in the movie) that she had spent her whole life looking for.]]
** The fact that [[spoiler:Stanley is able to break the curse Madame Zeroni put on his family without even realizing it]].
** Kate getting [[spoiler:her revenge on the town for Sam. She starts by shooting the corrupt sheriff who let his lynching happen and leaving him to rot in the prison with a kiss. Then she rides off and starts robbing travelers left and right. In the film she takes it further by [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge hunting down Sam's would-be murderers and putting a bullet in each of their heads]]. By the time Trout Walker and his TrophyWife Linda catch up to her, they're forced to admit that it hasn't rained since Sam was murdered, meaning they lost their fortune and the town has gone to ruin. While Kate is too dead on the inside to gloat, you can see a hint of satisfaction in her eyes]]. Immediately after that, [[spoiler:Kate gets bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard (deliberately in the movie) and then smirks at Trout and Linda, telling them to start digging, laughing at them as they futilely try to get her to tell them where she buried her treasure before she fades away]].

* CryForTheDevil: [[spoiler:Kate Barlow is established as one of the most ruthless bandits in the Wild West. We find out she's a BrokenBird whose true love was lynched for being a black man in love with a white woman and she's basically robbing wealthy passersby for the fun of it. There is also the fact that she spared Stanley Yelnats I, for seemingly no reason. Her death is SuicideByCop in the film where she goads a lizard into biting her fatally, while in the book it seemed to sense she was suicidal and did the job for her. Not to mention that after all that, she was an AccidentalHero for Stanley Yelnats IV and Zero; by sparing Stanley I, Stanley IV was able to figure out what "God's thumb" was and her spiced peaches were in the remains of Sam's boat]].

** In the film adaptation, Mr. Sir creates a tough, cowboy persona in order to get over the embarrassment of his real name: [[spoiler:Marion]]. This is very similar to '''Marion''' Robert Morrison, better known as [[spoiler:Creator/JohnWayne]].

* InferredHolocaust: [[spoiler:The town dried up with the lake after Sam died. While a good portion of the town deserved it, including Trout Walker, Linda Miller and the sheriff, try not to think about how many innocent children suffered (assuming their families didn't just pack up and leave)]].

** The Warden. Her [[AbusiveParents racist, greed-obsessed grandfather]] forced her to spend her entire youth taking part in a wild goose chase for a treasure. Even into her adulthood, it rules her life, and Sigourney Weaver gives her a terrific moment of anguish when [[spoiler:she's denied of the treasure her family has been looking for a hundred years and hauled off to jail]]. Still, y'know... child abuse.
** Kissin' Kate went on a murder spree and robbed Stanley Yelnats I, leaving him to die in the desert, [[spoiler:but she wouldn't have [[FromNobodyToNightmare become an outlaw]] if her lover hadn't been murdered out of racist hatred]].

** When Stanley and Zero come back to camp Green Lake, The Warden, Mr. Pendanski, and Mr. Sir show a complete lack of concern when [[spoiler:the boys are covered with yellow-spotted lizards]].
** Mr. Pendanski, when not only does he show an appalling lack of concern when [[spoiler:he sees the lizards]], he then has the nerve to taunt Stanley and say [[spoiler:his lawyer proved him innocent, and gloat "too bad you weren't there for it!"]] That's right, he has absolutely ''no remorse'' over the fact that [[spoiler:he just put a completely innocent child who didn't deserve any form of punishment through all that torment, and all the blood, sweat, and tears involved with it]]. Granted it isn't terribly out of character, but still.
** Trout [[spoiler:killing Sam]]. Since that day, it never rained at Green Lake [[spoiler:until the Warden and her cronies were put behind bars]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Linda Walker nee Miller, as well as her children with Trout, with at least one of them being [[spoiler:Ms. Walker's parent given she and Trout have the same surname. During the twenty years that Kate doesn't see Trout, Linda goes from a pretty third-grader to a sunburnt blotchy-faced GoldDigger. Yet she doesn't say much about her relationship with Trout, only that they're desperate for money. Then there's the matter that Ms. Walker's parents had to dig holes all over the lake basin, and forced her to participate as well. After all, what kind of adult would leave their grandchild alone with a delusional old man that would make them dig every day, even on Christmas]]?
* TheWoobie: Zero. Left orphaned and homeless in his youth, and bullied by the other kids and adults at Camp Green Lake, with only Stanley as his closest and best friend. [[spoiler: Thankfully, in the end, he is reunited with his mother, and becomes neighbors with Stanley!]]

* SpecialEffectsFailure: You can really tell when the film switches between CGI yellow-spotted lizards and [[TerrifyingPetStoreRat real lizards with yellow spots carefully painted on]].

* IdiotPlot: The boys at Camp Green Lake are tasked to dig holes every day and, if they come across anything interesting, to show it to the Warden. Stanley's first reaction to this is that they are obviously looking for something, a conclusion that no one else seems to have realized. When Stanley actually does "find something interesting" and lets X-Ray show it to the Warden so he can have a day off, she makes them dig out every inch of that same spot for the next few days. This just erases any doubt for Stanley that they are looking for something, yet no one, ranging from the other campers to the court system, seems to realize this.

** Why did Kissin' Kate spare Stanley Yelnats I's life when she robbed him? Did she [[ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter sense that he was a good man]]? Did she take pity on him for being an immigrant from Eastern Europe, which [[DeliberateValuesDissonance would have made him part of an outgroup]] like [[spoiler:her African-American lover Sam]]? Or did she develop a hatred of the rich due to [[spoiler:Trout Walker's cruelty]] and decide that [[CruelMercy letting him die in the desert would be worse than just shooting him]]?

** Elya's story seems to have it's moral "don't go out of your way to romance someone who you've only seen from afar." Elya wastes a lot of time and effort getting a pig for Myra, only to realize how horrific it would actually be to be married into her family. If he heeded Madame Zeroni's advice, he wouldn't have been trapped in the curse.

* CatharsisFactor: Let's face it, this book has many of these:

* CryForTheDevil: [[spoiler:Kate Barlow is established as one of the most ruthless bandits in the Wild West. We find out she's a BrokenBird whose true love was lynched for being black and she's basically robbing wealthy passersby for the fun of it. There is also the fact that she spared Stanley Yelnats I, for seemingly no reason. Her death is SuicideByCop in the film where she goads a lizard into biting her fatally, while in the book it seemed to sense she was suicidal and did the job for her. Not to mention that after all that, she was an AccidentalHero for Stanley Yelnats IV and Zero; by sparing Stanley I, Stanley IV was able to figure out what "God's thumb" was and her spiced peaches were in the remains of Sam's boat]].

* NarmCharm: "Dig It." On paper, the movie adaptation of a book like ''Holes'' having a ThemeTuneRap performed by its all-teen cast sounds like a TotallyRadical gimmick to [[WereStillRelevantDammit attract "the kids."]] In practice, however, the actors are clearly are musically capable enough to pull it off and the whole thing fits the story to a tee.

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** The Walkers' backstory seems to have the message of KnowWhenToFoldEm when something you want is difficult if not impossible to attain. Trout starts the whole fiasco by hitting on Kate Barlow when she's Miss Katherine, schoolteacher, and she politely turns him down in favor of giving him an education. When he realizes he can't have her, he burns down the schoolhouse and kills Sam, which may have led to Green Lake suffering a drought for a century as punishment for his grievous sin. Then he tries to interrogate Kate twenty years later for her bank robbery loot; her response is to let a yellow-spotted lizard bite her and to curse him that his children and grandchildren will ''never'' find the treasure. In his obsession [[spoiler: he spent his final years as a miserable and obsessed old man and used his own granddaughter as a penal laborer. Ms. Walker, even knowing that her grandfather was an obsessed paranoiac, kept up the crusade by using legal child labor rather than selling the land, which she was eventually forced to do, and starting a new life, which led to her also becoming an angry and miserable person]]. If they had just given up and pursued other ventures, they would have been happier.
** The book and movie both seem to take a swipe at the rationale of punitive sentencing and the prison-industrial complex. Forcing the kids to dig holes all day doesn't actually solve the problems that led them to commit crimes, and many of kids are effectively stuck on a chain gang for crimes that aren't all that serious. [[spoiler: The fact that the Warden's real goal is to use kids digging holes to find treasure]] is a subtle reference to how prison labor is for the purposes of enriching corrupt capitalists, not actually helping convicts better themselves or escape the conditions that led them to crime. Meanwhile, Stanley actually does something to help Hector better himself: teaching him how to read, and is told not to by the prison staff who only see Hector as being good for digging. [[spoiler: Hector's new reading skills end up saving the day when he proves the treasure chest belongs to Stanley, clearing them of any charges of theft and allowing them to leave Camp Green Lake]].

** Linda, Kate's former student, and Trout's wife, is subject to this given she only has one scene in the book and movie alike. It's unknown if Trout groomed her given she was no older than eight or nine when Sam died, or if she was desperate and greedy enough to overlook his bad attitude and smelly feet for the dwindling Walker fortune. The book hints it's the former, while the movie hints it's the latter. She still calls Kate "Miss Katherine" and looks guilty when Kate says Trout can't make her wish she was dead.

** Kate getting [[spoiler:her revenge on the town for Sam. She starts by shooting the sheriff and leaving him to rot in the prison with a kiss. Then she rides off and starts robbing travelers left and right. In the film she takes it further by hunting down Sam's would-be murderers and putting a bullet in each of their heads. By the time Trout Walker and his TrophyWife Linda catch up to her, they're forced to admit that it hasn't rained since Sam was murdered, meaning they lost their fortune and the town has gone to ruin. While Kate is too dead on the inside to gloat, you can see a hint of satisfaction in her eyes]]. Immediately after that, [[spoiler:Kate gets bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard (deliberately in the movie) and then smirks at Trout and Linda, telling them to start digging, laughing at them as they futilely try to get her to tell them where she buried her treasure before she fades away]].

* IdiotPlot: The boys at Camp Green Lake are tasked to dig holes everyday and, if they come across anything interesting, to show it to the Warden. Stanley's first reaction to this is that they are obviously looking for something, a conclusion that no one else seems to have realized. When Stanley actually does "find something interesting" and shows it to the Warden, she makes them dig out every inch of that same spot for the next few days. This just erases any doubt for Stanley that they are looking for something, yet no one, ranging from the other campers to the court system, seems to realize this.

* VillainBall: Mr. Sir has his moments.
** He knows that the Warden doesn't really care about "building character" and is actually looking for [[spoiler:Kate Barlow's treasure.]] Despite this, he chooses to report Stanley's supposed theft of his sunflower seeds by telling the Warden that Stanley "found something." Naturally, she gets excited, only to learn the real purpose of their visit. Small wonder she ends up striking Mr. Sir across the face with rattlesnake venom.
** There's also a small scene in the film where Pendanski can be heard chewing out Mr. Sir over [[spoiler:Stanley's attempt to steal the water truck.]] Which might not have happened if Mr. Sir hadn't left the keys in the ignition. At a camp for juvenile delinquents. And this is ''after'' they accepted a new camper who got arrested for [[spoiler:''stealing a car.'']]

** Why does Mr. Sir save Stanley's life on his first night at camp by shooting a lizard attacking him, when he later shows he's more than willing to let him and other kids at the camp die? Does he enjoy the sport of shooting the lizards? Is he trying to clear out a threat to himself and the other adults in charge of the camp? Does he think it prudent to avoid causing needless deaths of the kids, potentially bringing unwanted attention from authorities? Or does he actually have a [[EvenEvilHasStandards shred of humanity]]?

** The Walkers' backstory seems to have the message of KnowWhenToFoldEm when something you want is difficult if not impossible. Trout starts the whole fiasco by hitting on Kate Barlow when she's Miss Katherine, schoolteacher, and she politely turns him down in favor of giving him an education. When he realizes he can't have her, he burns down the schoolhouse and kills Sam, which may have led to Green Lake suffering a drought for a century as punishment for his grievous sin. Then he tries to interrogate Kate twenty years later for her bank robbery loot; her response is to let a yellow-spotted lizard bite her and to curse him that his children and grandchildren will ''never'' find the treasure. In his obsession [[spoiler: he spent his final years as a miserable and obsessed old man and used his own granddaughter as a penal laborer. Ms. Walker, even knowing that her grandfather was an obsessed paranoiac, kept up the crusade by using legal child labor rather than selling the land, which she was eventually forced to do, and starting a new life, which led to her also becoming an angry and miserable person]]. If they had just given up and pursued other ventures, they would have been happier.

** The Walkers' backstory seems to have the message of KnowWhenToFoldEm when something you want is difficult if not impossible. Trout starts the whole fiasco by hitting on Kate Barlow when she's Miss Katherine, schoolteacher, and she politely turns him down in favor of giving him an education. When he realizes he can't have her, he burns down the schoolhouse and kills Sam, which may have led to Green Lake suffering a drought for a century. Then he tries to interrogate Kate twenty years later for her bank robbery loot; her response is to let a yellow-spotted lizard bite her and to curse him that his children and grandchildren will ''never'' find the treasure. [[spoiler:Ms. Walker, even knowing that her grandfather was an obsessed paranoiac, kept up the crusade by using legal child labor rather than selling the land, which she was eventually forced to do, and starting a new life]]. If they had just given up and pursued other ventures, they would have been happier.
** The book and movie both seem to take a swipe at the rationale of punitive sentencing and the prison-industrial complex. Forcing the kids to dig holes all day doesn't actually solve the problems that led them to commit crimes, and many of kids are effectively stuck on a chain gang for crimes that aren't all that serious. [[spoiler: The fact that the Warden's real goal is to use kids digging holes to find treasure]] is a subtle reference to how prison labor is for the purposes of enriching corrupt capitalists, not actually helping convicts better themselves. Meanwhile, Stanley actually does something to help Hector better himself: teaching him how to read, and is told not to by the prison staff who only see Hector as being good for digging.