"Star Wars Kid" goes mainstream

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Source: The New York Times, The National Post, Wired, Waxy.org

Just over one month ago a video that was never meant to be seen by anyone except its creator was uploaded to the Kazaa file sharing network. If you downloaded it, you would see an overweight 15-year-old teenager holding a golf ball retriever pretending it was actually a double-bladed lightsaber, like the one used by Darth Maul in STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE. Totally without self-consciousness and with real intensity, the teen awkwardly dances about the small studio, spinning and whirling both himself and the retriever around. At some points he even makes the appropriate VRROOOM! lightsaber noises.

It's something a lot of STAR WARS fans did when they were younger (and maybe still do when no one is looking.) But for the teen on the video, his mistake was leaving the tape where other kids from his Quebec high school found it and uploaded it to Kazaa to humiliate him. Soon video game fansites and computer geek blog websites were linking to the video. But when some video game developers saw the video they modified it to include an opening scrawl like the ones at the start of the STAR WARS films -- as well as adding lightsaber and sound special effects. And then the popularity of the underground video really took off.

To date, at least two million downloads of the so-called "Star Wars Kid" short have been downloaded from various mirror sites. The story is now reaching critical mass, with articles appearing in Wired, the National Post, even The New York Times all this week. And hundreds of anonymous viewers are leading a wave of support for the teen seen in the video.

The Star Wars Kid, known only by his first name Ghyslain, has taken a lot of hurtful comments and laughter from the kids at his school, but now the tide is turning. A website has set up a donation form allowing fans of the Star Wars Kid to donate a few bucks to show their support of his passion for being a kid at heart, and to show there's a difference between laughing with someone at at them. Even though the site owner was only expecting enough to buy Ghyslain an Apple iPod, over $4,000 dollars has been donated so far. The website's owner promises every cent will reach Ghyslain.

Reached for comment, the "Star Wars Kid" just wishes all the attention he's received had never happened and the genie was never let out of the digital bottle. Nevertheless, Ghyslain's video has touched a nerve amongst fans who may remember times when they weren't the most popular kid at school, and when the imagination and courage to pretend to be a Jedi Knight wasn't something we felt embarassed about.


On behalf of those of us who ever switched on a flashlight with a plastic tube taped on the end of it, we say to Ghyslain: May the Force be with you!

Click here to see the original unedited video.

Click here to see the "lightsaber" remix version of the video.

Visit Waxy.org and see the latest donation tally or make a donation yourself.


Got a scoop? Know something that you need to tell us about? Send it to us!