!Per wiki policy, Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
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* AccidentalAesop:
** Elya's story seems to have its 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, or at least tried getting to know her first, he wouldn't have been trapped in the curse.
** 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, 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. 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. 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.
** Zeroni's curse seems to have the hidden message of "treat the outcasts of society well." Both Zeronis, Hector and Madame, were outcasts in their time and place. Elya and Stanley were the only people to treat their respective Zeroni's as friends. Elya, however, accidentally abandoned his friend and was cursed. Stanley not only came to care about Hector, but risked further punishment to rescue him from dying in the desert. Carrying Hector up the mountain wasn't just about fulfilling his ancestor's debt: Madame Zeroni's ghost was touched seeing Elya's descendant give her misfit descendant love and kindness when no one else did and gave Stanley good luck as a reward.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** It's left deliberately ambiguous whether Zero's mother intentionally abandoned him or got separated from him by accident (the film leans toward the latter, while the book heavily implies the former). While they're shown to be reunited at the end of the story, the audience's interpretation of their reunion will likely vary depending on how they choose to answer that question.
** Was Myra really unable to choose between Elya and Igor because she was stupid? Or was she completely unused to making decisions for herself? Madame Zeroni claims that she can't do farm chores, which implies that she had a rather sheltered upbringing, and being sheltered generally diminishes capacity for independence.
** Linda, one of Kate's former students 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.
** 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? 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?
** Did Trout ever feel remorse for what he did to Sam and Kate? His last scene in the movie is ordering his granddaughter, a young Louise 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.
** 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, depriving the camp of its free labor and potentially bringing unwanted attention from outside authorities? Or does he actually have a [[EvenEvilHasStandards shred of humanity]]?
* {{Applicability}}: The plot hinges on a group of juvenile delinquents being exploited as unpaid laborers by an unscrupulous prison warden, who tries to use them to get rich. Intentionally or not, this can be pretty easily read as a commentary on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison-industrial_complex prison-industrial complex]].
* 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.
** Also, "Dig It" by the D-Tent Boys. Who would have thought that a Disney-produced rap song performed by the teen stars of a movie like Holes could go so unbelievably hard?
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Right after Stanley turns down Zero's request to teach him how to read, Armpit swaggers out of the Wreck Room and starts dancing. The music even sounds like it's going to lead into a sudden all-camp coordinated dance, but it ends abruptly soon after Armpit raises his, well, armpits.
* CatharsisFactor: Let's face it, this book has many moments of this.
** Zero smacking Mr. Pendanski in the face with a shovel after [[TheDogBitesBack one insult too many]].
** 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 Stanley is able to break the curse Madame Zeroni put on his family without even realizing it.
** Kate getting 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, 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.
** While it doesn't end well for him, Elya ditches Myra after realizing how much of a shallow dunce she is.
** In the movie, Mr. Sir gets arrested for violating his parole and Walker goes to jail once her corruption comes to light.
* CaptainObviousReveal: Mr. Sir isn't using his real name, which the movie confirms. Given how ridiculous the name "Mr. Sir" is, that's hardly a surprise.
* CryForTheDevil: 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.
* DiagnosedByTheAudience:
** Due to Brian/Twitch's constant, seemingly involuntary twitching, most fans interpret that he has Tourette's syndrome.
** Zero's affinity for math, his high skill at digging, and initial non-verbalism, which he himself explains as simply not seeing the point of responding to questions he deems pointless, all point to him having Asperger's Syndrome.
* 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.
* GeniusBonus:
** In the film adaptation, Mr. Sir creates a tough, cowboy persona in order to get over the embarrassment of his real name: Marion. This is very similar to '''Marion''' Robert Morrison, better known as Creator/JohnWayne.
** Stanley is initially told that his great-great-grandfather was cursed by a "one-legged Gypsy woman", but it turns out that Madame Zeroni was actually ''Egyptian''. The term "Gypsy" (a racial slur for Romani people) is actually derived from "E'''gyp'''tian", and originated as an insulting reference to the Romani people's dark skin complexion.
* HoYay: A slight bit between Stanley and Hector/Zero. Their close bond and devotion to each other can give off these vibes.
-->'''Mr. Pendanski:''' No one cares about Hector Zeroni.\\
'''Stanley:''' ''I'' do!
** This passage from the book when Stanley watches [[BeautifulDreamer Zero sleep]].
-->"[Stanley] looked over at Zero sleeping near him. His face was lit in the starlight, and there was a flower petal in front of his nose that moved back and forth as he breathed. [...] Zero breathed in, and the petal was drawn up almost touching his nose. Zero breathed out, and the petal moved towards his chin. It stayed on Zero's face for a amazingly long time before fluttering off to the side. Stanley considered placing it back in front of Zero's nose, but it wouldn't be the same."
* InferredHolocaust: 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).
* ItWasHisSled: The fact that the Warden is female is a surprise to both Stanley and the reader, but nowadays, most people know about it going in -- thanks in no small part to Creator/SigourneyWeaver's killer performance in the movie. Most discussions of the story don't even try to hide her gender anymore, especially since it is a rather minor revelation anyways.
* JerkassWoobie:
** 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 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, but she wouldn't have [[FromNobodyToNightmare become an outlaw]] if her lover hadn't been murdered out of racist hatred.
** Squid. In the book, Stanley wakes up one night to find him crying due to "allergies", and warns Stanley that [[DisproportionateRetribution he will break Stanley's jaw if he says a word about it]]. This is AdaptedOut of the film, but at the end of the book, he asks Stanley to call his mother and apologizes on Squid's behalf (in the film, however, it's Armpit, not Squid, who asks this favor). In the film, we expand on this a bit and discover his mother is TheAlcoholic and his father [[ParentalAbandonment left them]].
* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Kissin' Kate is the most criminal character in the story but is too sympathetic to really hate given her backstory. Trout is easily the most detested character in this arc (and possibly the entire story) because of his racism and jealousy getting Sam killed and ultimately being responsible for turning Kissin' Kate into the outlaw she was.
* LoveToHate: All the camp counselors to some degree, but especially Mr. Pendanski (and Mr. Sir too in the film thanks to his hammier portrayal). It helps that there are multiple parts where they get comeuppance for their misdeeds, rather than just one specific scene, so it isn't like they're not suffering for their selfish acts.
* MagnificentBitch: [[{{Outlaw}} Katherine Barlow]] was once a school teacher [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds driven to rage and heartbreak]] at the racist killing of her African-American lover, Sam. [[PayEvilUntoEvil Murdering her town's sheriff for failing to intervene]], she [[FromNobodyToNightmare becomes the infamous bandit known as "Kissin' Kate"]], robbing countless men to accumulate a vast amount of wealth. Even at gunpoint, Kate refuses to give up her treasure and as she dies from a poisonous lizard's bite, [[DefiantToTheEnd spitefully tells her interrogator]] to "Start digging".
* MemeticBadass: Sam the onion picker can fix anything. He could even fix a broken marriage, according to 24 Frames of Nick.
* MemeticMutation:
** There's a post going around Website/{{Tumblr}} and subsequently Website/{{Facebook}} which includes a GIF of Madame Zeroni, and it says if you forget to reblog her, "You and your family will be cursed for always and eternity."
** A piece of [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/75f7ae5e50ab1054817c98c9f816ae4c/tumblr_p4s4ljr8D51tnvsiuo1_540.jpg fanart]] depicting the movie as part of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' has been making the rounds on Tumblr as well, leading to fans wishing for ''Holes'' to be included in the game.
** [[https://youtu.be/SJcYPk-1oXI The "I'm tired of this, grandpa!" "That's too damn bad!" scene has become a meme on TikTok.]]
** "I can fix that." [[labelnote:Explanation]]Sam's most iconic line. Often used in regards to, well, fixing something.[[/labelnote]]
* MoralEventHorizon:
** 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, but 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.
** Trout killing Sam. Since that day, it never rained at Green Lake until the Warden and her cronies were put behind bars.
* 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 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.
* PeripheryDemographic: The book and film are aimed at kids, but thanks to the damned fine storytelling, memorable cast of characters, and (especially in the book) political commentary, there's a lot for older audiences to enjoy, too. A lot of people who first read the book or saw the movie in school have revisited it in later years, and been pleasantly surprised at how well it still holds up.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Granted, Creator/ShiaLaBeouf wasn't a complete unknown at the time, being the star of the Creator/DisneyChannel sitcom ''Series/EvenStevens'', but today he's typically more associated with his role as Sam Witwicky in the first three live-action ''Film/{{Transformers|Film Series}}'' movies than either Disney project.
** Creator/DuleHill, who played Sam in the flashback. He had some prominence for his role as Charlie Young in ''Series/TheWestWing''. However, he became ''a lot'' more well known once his role as Burton Guster in ''Series/{{Psych}}'' rolled around.
* SpecialEffectFailure: You can really tell when the film switches between CGI yellow-spotted lizards and [[TerrifyingPetStoreRat real lizards with yellow spots carefully painted on]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Linda Walker nee Miller, as well as her children with Trout, with at least one of them being 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 child alone with a delusional old man that would make them dig every day, even on Christmas?
* ValuesDissonance:
** A mild one which is only implied, but in the film Mr. Sir's real name is revealed to be Marion Sevillo. While using an alias is also due to the fact that he is a criminal on parole, the fact that it is two masculine pronouns, his frequent "this isn't a girl scout camp", and some of his other behavior imply he uses this as his alias because he is embarrassed to have a feminine name. Even for a criminal who is clearly one of the antagonists, the idea of a man being embarrassed to have a traditionally feminine name is less funny now than it was back when the film was made.
** The GypsyCurse in the backstory would be more likely to get flak if the book or movie came out today.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: For a book aimed at children, it surprisingly featured lots of deep commentary on forced labor and the prison system in America, as well as homelessness, and children/teenagers growing up in harsh environments. On a bleaker note, the flashbacks to the [=1880s=] didn't shy away from showing that even with Sam being an established member of Green Lake, it didn't stop him from being murdered by a lynch mob galvanized by the richest man in town. Needless to say, someone who hadn't read or seen ''Holes'' as a child might be in for a surprise with its more adult themes.
* 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. Thankfully, in the end, he is reunited with his mother, and becomes neighbors with Stanley!
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