american horror stories, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s spin-off American horror story series, changes the long-standing format of the horror franchise. Instead of an entire season to explore the story, the spin-off series only has one episode of about 40 minutes. The second season of the horror spin-off series is a significant improvement over the first. “Lake”, the eighth episode of the second season, explores the mystical dangers that water can pose. It has quite a bit in common with one Disney film.
Despite the cheerful connotations of most Disney movies, many of them stem from fairly grim stories. Holes might not be as gruesome as a story as some of the studio’s animated films, but Louis Sachar’s novel tackles some pretty dark themes, including child labor, racism, and abuse. While Holes and American horror stories might not use the themes in the same way, the similarities between the two projects are impossible to ignore.
The Similarities Between Holes and American horror stories’ “More” are striking. On a simplistic level, both tell the story of a child who was dragged into a family’s eerie history. In holes, Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) and Zero (Khleo Thomas) are both haunted by their families’ unfortunate histories. Their quirky and unfair events are a big factor in what led them to go to Camp Green Lake to dig holes. For both Stanley and Zero, their circumstances ultimately have a meaningful, optimistic conclusion. Ultimately, both characters are able to free their families from the suffering they have endured for countless years.
A similar strategy is used in “Lake”. Finn (Olivia Rouyre) unwittingly reveals her family’s dark history after the death of her brother Jake. By the end of the American horror stories In one episode, Finn learns that her brother has drowned in a lake whose dam is protected by her father’s law firm. To make matters worse, Finn and her mother discovered that Reed Prescott, the man who built the dam, had chained those who opposed the dam’s construction to a cement block and drowned them. The “Lake” shock factor appears as Finn’s father Jeffrey (Teddy Sears) reveals that he is a descendant of the Prescott family, making excuses for the horrific actions Reed took many years ago to make the project possible. Finally, Finn and her mother conclude that the tragedy that befell their family happened because of their sordid relationship with the Prescotts, and that the inhabitants of the lake wanted revenge.
The narrative construction of both “Lake” and Holes are also similar. Both use flashbacks to historical stories that are relevant to moving the story forward. “Lake” only uses one flashback sequence in which Reed Prescott chains the men to the cement block and drowns them. This scene gives “Lake” an explanation for the bodies at the bottom of the lake and for the real villain of the episode. Without the connection between the dark history of the Prescott and the lake, there’s no reason for Finn, Jake and their parents to be targeted by the lake and its inhabitants.
Holes relies more on historical flashbacks, but it’s also for a necessary purpose. There are two main flashback sequences in: Holes needed to move the story forward. The first is meant to give context to Zero’s character. He is a descendant of Madame Zeroni, a fortune teller who was betrayed by a man with whom she made an agreement. The man’s inability to keep his promise with Zeroni is what causes the Yelnats family curse, which is attributed to Stanley landing in hot water. It also forges an ancestral bond between Zero and Stanley that serves as the backbone of Holes.
The second historical flashback develops the character of Kissin’ Kate Barlow (Patricia Arquette). It is Barlow’s story that gives context to the significance of Green Lake and its current authoritarian leader in Louise Walker (Sigourney Weaver). Kate’s thrilling yet tragic journey from a loving schoolteacher to a cold-blooded bandit is laced with metaphors for holes’ central themes. Much like the twist that “Lake” puts on the true identity of Finn’s family, Barlow’s storyline explains what the kids of Camp Green Lake are looking for and why. Barlow’s story weaves in and out of Stanley’s family past, eventually making the final redemptive connection.
The obvious focus of both Holes and “More” on the water is also important. “Lake” is about the horrors in the water while Holes uses water as a form of captivity and freedom. Green Lake has held the Walker family for generations in search of the treasure left behind by Barlow, in the hopes that the wealth will return to them. It also imprisons Stanley and his family as the subject of great misfortune throughout their lives. However, water also serves as the liberator from the misfortune to which both Stanley and Zero have been subjected.
From the journeys their characters take to the basic plot elements that unite them, there are countless threads connecting them American horror stories’‘ “More” to Disney’s Holes. Although the motives of the two projects could not be more different, the core of each remains the same. It’s unlikely Murphy, Falchuk, or Manny Coto who wrote “Lake” took inspiration from Holes to make the American horror stories episode, but the qualities the two share are uncanny.
American horror stories is now streaming on Hulu. Holes is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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