The Star Wars Kid has a Documentary!

Once upon a time, in an Internet Far Far Away, there was a kid named Ghyslain Raza who filmed himself doing his best attempt at a Star Wars battle katana. His classmates uploaded it to the internet.

It was one of the biggest viral moments to happen around the time Youtube launched, when people didn't go viral because it was humiliating. Along with Chocolate Rain, the Evolution of Dance , Two Girls One Cup, the Tron Guy, we don't need to go through the build up to TikTok and Ice Bucket challenges, you were probably there.

It was definitely a moment that paved the way for so many more moments online, for people to laugh at ourselves and laugh at each other at the expense of the person involved. Where America's funniest home videos became shareable and something people strived for: Virality.

This was a time before the cyber bullying made people too aware that there were feelings on the other side of the video, it made people question their instinct to laugh at ridiculousness, and it also inspired thousands of people to WANT to go viral, staging stunts and hoping for a pure and organic moment like Star Wars Kid, in an era where everything is staged.

Ghyslain Raza didn't want the fame and like other people who have gone viral without wanting to go viral, he's suffered from the experience. When you're ashamed of a video that everyone has seen, that TV shows have referenced, that became a cultural moment, it can be haunting!

I still think we should all take ourselves less seriously, we should laugh at these things and ourselves and each other, because 2003 was a far more fun time to be online, and we should try to find a way back there.

The documentary was released today, it's part of internet history, so you may want to check it out:

Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows, Mathieu Fournier, provided by the National Film Board of Canada