Meaning
What does Star Wars Kid mean?
Star Wars kid is a famous internet video featuring Ghyslain Raza, a 15-year-old high school student from Canada, who recorded himself imitating the lightsaber moves of Darth Maul with a golf ball retriever.
He did not intend to publish the recording, however, the video got leaked out by his schoolmates and became a viral sensation.
Raza became a target for online bullies, as his dorky looks and cheesy moves were an inviting appearance for internet harassments.
Origin
What's the origin of Star Wars Kid?
The original recording was born in 2002, in Séminaire St-Joseph high school, where Raza filmed himself pretending to fight in a very similar fashion to Darth Maul from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
He recorded the short clip with the school’s camera, and soon other students got ahold of it, who then distributed it among other students in the high school.
Later the video was also uploaded on the web.
It is estimated that the original Star Wars kid clip had generated over 1 billion views from 2002 to 2012.
Spread & Usage
How did Star Wars Kid spread?
Although the video was initially distributed between the peers of the school, it became a viral Internet meme through peer-to-peer sharing services.
From 2003, several edits and video-remixes started to appear online.
The first edited video was created by Bryan Dube, a game developer, who added the appropriate sound effects and drew a lightsaber on top of the golf ball retriever.
Star Wars kid then surfaced on different meme sharing websites such as Newgrounds or EbaumsWorld.
The meme also was also featured on popular blogs like Metafilter and Wired News.
External resources
- CBC Radio – Man who became famous 20 years ago as the ‘Star Wars Kid’ says your digital shadow shouldn’t define you
- WIRED – ‘Star Wars Kid’ Gets Bucks From Blogs
- Metafilter – Star Wars Kid Suing
- EbaumsWorld – Star Wars Kid – Attack Of The Clones