Star Wars Kid
Encyclopedia
"Star Wars Kid" is an Internet meme
involving a video of a high school student from Trois-Rivières
, Quebec
, Canada
, wielding a golf ball retriever
in imitation of Darth Maul's lightsaber
moves from the Star Wars
films.
through P2P
services. According to court transcripts, the video first appeared on the Internet on the evening of April 14, 2003.
An edited version of the video was created, adding Star Wars music
, texts, and lightsaber special effects, such as lights and sounds. As of November 27, 2006 it was estimated by The Viral Factory
that the video had been viewed over 900 million times. As of 2010, the first copy of this video that was posted on YouTube
has over 20 million views.
250,000 lawsuit
against the families of four of his schoolmates. The lawsuit stated in part that he "had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large" and "will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time." Legal proceedings against one family were quickly dropped. The lawsuit had been scheduled to begin trial on April 10, 2006, but on April 7, the boy and his parents reached an out-of-court settlement with the defendants.
listed the Star Wars Kid as #8 on its Top 10 Web Fads list. In 2007, the G4
TV show Attack of the Show rated it the number 1 viral video
of all time. It was ranked #2 on VH1's "Top 40 Internet Celebrities", right behind Gary Brolsma
(The Numa Numa Guy). The case raised privacy
issues and was extensively reported in mainstream news media
worldwide, including The New York Times
, CBS News
, GMTV
, and BBC News
.
The video and its subsequent popularity spawned many spoofs
and references on various television programs, including episodes of The Venture Bros.
; the American Dad!
episode "All About Steve"; multiple episodes of Arrested Development, beginning with "The Immaculate Election
"; Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
; Cory in the House
; Teen Titans
; and South Park
. In the episode of Being Ian
Blah Blah Blog at the end of the episode, a parody of the Star Wars Kid was shown with Ian in a unicorn outfit doing the same moves as the Star Wars Kid. Popular musician Weird Al Yankovic imitates Star Wars kid in his music video White and Nerdy.
In 2006, comedian Stephen Colbert
initiated a contest, Stephen Colbert's Greenscreen Challenge. He presented a video of himself standing in front of a greenscreen, using a toy lightsaber to dramatically fight off imaginary foes in the fashion of the Star Wars Kid. It was then up to viewers to edit and enhance in their own way. Viewers would then send their own videos into the show, on which the best would be featured. The contest eventually culminated with Star Wars creator George Lucas
making an appearance, presenting his elaborate version of the video, enhanced by Industrial Light and Magic
.
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
involving a video of a high school student from Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières means three rivers in French and may refer to:in Canada*Trois-Rivières, the largest city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada*Circuit Trois-Rivières, a racetrack in Trois-Rivières, Quebec...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, wielding a golf ball retriever
Golf ball retriever
A golf ball retriever is used by golfers in order to retrieve lost or misplaced balls. They allow one to retrieve balls from water hazards, deep rough or even the occasional sand trap, where they would not otherwise be able to reach them....
in imitation of Darth Maul's lightsaber
Lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...
moves from the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
films.
Video origins and publication
On November 3, 2002 a Canadian student made a video of himself swinging a golf ball retriever around as a weapon. The video was filmed at his high school studio, and the tape left in a basement. It was taped over a portion of a basketball game (as seen extremely briefly at the end of the clip). The video was discovered by a schoolmate, who showed it to his friend who created an electronic file from the video tape. The video was distributed amongst his school's students when it reached a fourth student, who uploaded it to the Internet under the title Jackass_starwars_funny.wmv. The video eventually became a viral Internet memeInternet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
through P2P
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
services. According to court transcripts, the video first appeared on the Internet on the evening of April 14, 2003.
An edited version of the video was created, adding Star Wars music
Star Wars music
The music of Star Wars consists of the scores written for all six Star Wars films by composer John Williams from 1977 to 1983 for the Original Trilogy, and 1999 to 2005 for the Prequel Trilogy. It includes the Star Wars: The Clone Wars music written by Kevin Kiner...
, texts, and lightsaber special effects, such as lights and sounds. As of November 27, 2006 it was estimated by The Viral Factory
The Viral Factory
The Viral Factory is a full service viral marketing agency based in Shoreditch, United Kingdom.-History:The Viral Factory was founded in 2001 by Ed Robinson and Matt Smith....
that the video had been viewed over 900 million times. As of 2010, the first copy of this video that was posted on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
has over 20 million views.
Harassment lawsuit and settlement
In July 2003, the student's family filed a CA$Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
250,000 lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
against the families of four of his schoolmates. The lawsuit stated in part that he "had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large" and "will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time." Legal proceedings against one family were quickly dropped. The lawsuit had been scheduled to begin trial on April 10, 2006, but on April 7, the boy and his parents reached an out-of-court settlement with the defendants.
Recognition
In 2005, CNETCNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
listed the Star Wars Kid as #8 on its Top 10 Web Fads list. In 2007, the G4
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
TV show Attack of the Show rated it the number 1 viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
of all time. It was ranked #2 on VH1's "Top 40 Internet Celebrities", right behind Gary Brolsma
Gary Brolsma
Gary William Brolsma , also known as simply The Numa Numa Guy, is an American singer who gained worldwide attention after posting onto the Internet, near the end of 2004, a webcam video of himself miming to the song "Dragostea din tei" by Moldovan pop band O-Zone...
(The Numa Numa Guy). The case raised privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
issues and was extensively reported in mainstream news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
worldwide, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
, and BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
.
In popular culture
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
and references on various television programs, including episodes of The Venture Bros.
The Venture Bros.
The Venture Bros. is an American animated television series that premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on February 16, 2003. The series mixes action and comedy together while it chronicles the adventures of the Venture family: well-meaning but incompetent teenagers Hank and Dean Venture; their...
; the American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
episode "All About Steve"; multiple episodes of Arrested Development, beginning with "The Immaculate Election
The Immaculate Election
"The Immaculate Election" is the thirty-sixth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.-Plot:Michael is surprised to find the house still a mess a week after the fumigation, which Michael had Lindsay call and arrange, long before Michael had begun hiding his fugitive father in the...
"; Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, commonly called Ned's Declassified for short, is an American live-action situation comedy on Nickelodeon that debuted in the channel's Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' actual pilot episode aired on September 7, 2003...
; Cory in the House
Cory in the House
Cory in the House is an American television sitcom, which aired on the Disney Channel from January 12, 2007 to September 12, 2008 and was a spin-off from the Disney show That's So Raven. The show focuses on Cory Baxter, who moved from San Francisco, California to Washington, D.C., after Victor...
; Teen Titans
Teen Titans (TV series)
Teen Titans is an American animated television series based on the DC Comics characters of the same name. The show was created by Glen Murakami, developed by David Slack, and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003, and the final episode "Things Change"...
; and South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
. In the episode of Being Ian
Being Ian
Being Ian is a Canadian animated series produced by Studio B Productions, Corus Entertainment and Nelvana, focusing on 12-year-old Ian Kelley, who aspires to become a filmmaker....
Blah Blah Blog at the end of the episode, a parody of the Star Wars Kid was shown with Ian in a unicorn outfit doing the same moves as the Star Wars Kid. Popular musician Weird Al Yankovic imitates Star Wars kid in his music video White and Nerdy.
In 2006, comedian Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
initiated a contest, Stephen Colbert's Greenscreen Challenge. He presented a video of himself standing in front of a greenscreen, using a toy lightsaber to dramatically fight off imaginary foes in the fashion of the Star Wars Kid. It was then up to viewers to edit and enhance in their own way. Viewers would then send their own videos into the show, on which the best would be featured. The contest eventually culminated with Star Wars creator George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
making an appearance, presenting his elaborate version of the video, enhanced by Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...
.
External links
- "'Star Wars Kid' becomes unwilling Internet star". USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. August 21, 2003 - "La SCAP devient Patrimoine Trois-Rivières". Cyberpresse. February 23, 2010
- Ha, Tu Thanh. "Parents file lawsuit over Star Wars Kid video". Globe and Mail. July 23, 2003