Holes, or How to be a Good Boy in a Bad, Bad Desert

2025-06-15

Join Kelcee and Spencer for a conversation about the best gosh-darn book-to-movie adaptation in the West: 2003’s Holes, based on the novel by Louis Sachar. Discussion topics include foot stuff (like…so much foot stuff), the perils of broken promises, and a how-to guide for morally-upright vigilantism. Content warnings for EXTENSIVE discussions of both physical and emotional child abuse, particularly within the criminal justice and “troubled teen” systems, racism and racist violence (including lynching), sexism and sexist violence, and mentions of homelessness, child abandonment, suicide, and conversion therapy....

Join Kelcee and Spencer for a conversation about the best gosh-darn book-to-movie adaptation in the West: 2003’s Holes, based on the novel by Louis Sachar. Discussion topics include foot stuff (like…so much foot stuff), the perils of broken promises, and a how-to guide for morally-upright vigilantism.

Content warnings for EXTENSIVE discussions of both physical and emotional child abuse, particularly within the criminal justice and “troubled teen” systems, racism and racist violence (including lynching), sexism and sexist violence, and mentions of homelessness, child abandonment, suicide, and conversion therapy.

Works Cited & Recommended Reading:

Holes by Louis Sachar
“A Video About Digging Holes,” by Jacob Geller, youtube.com
“What Holes Taught Me About The Prison Industrial Complex,” by Charlotte Ahlin, Bustle
“This Is Paris Official Documentary,” by Paris Hilton, youtube.com
“Five Facts About the Troubled Teen Industry,” by Catherine E Krebs, The American Bar Association
Desperation without Dignity: Conditions of Children Placed in For Profit Residential Facilities, National Disability Rights Network
Breakingcodesilence.org
“The Child Labor Camp from HOLES Reopens Amid Coronavirus Concerns,” by Laura Slade Lewis, McSweeney’s
“Small Steps (novel),” Wikipedia