To his friends he’s known as Ghyslain Raza, but if you grew up during 2003, in the infancy of the digital age, you know him as “Star Wars Kid.” What began as an innocent test with a high school project turned in to one of the most viral videos every conceived on the internet. It’s also probably the earliest incident of internet bullying ever to develop, as a young high schooler by Ghyslain Raza became the object of media scrutiny and mockery by literally everyone from the UK to America.
“Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows” is a long overdue documentary, as it comes during a time where the internet plays such a crucial part of our everyday lives. In 2003, no one really knew what the internet could have in store for us, and the virality of the “Star Wars Kid” showed us in a nutshell the pros and cons of internet fame. In this Mathieu Fournier documentary on the first viral phenomenon of the digital age, Ghyslain Raza (the “Star Wars Kid”) breaks his silence and reflects on his story for the first time. In doing so, he also explores our collective experience living in an online world in which we have to make peace with our digital shadows.
“The Rise of the Digital Shadows” is by no means a poppy nostalgia documentary. Instead it’s a stern and thoughtful glimpse in to the sensation of the “Star Wars Kid” and how the short video propelled Raza in to a spotlight that he didn’t want. Director Fournier takes balanced pacing in exploring the life of Raza, and explaining the events that led to Raza filming the video one night after high school. We meet Raza twenty years later as he’s now a man who’s been forced to come to grips with the entire fiasco that changed him and his family’s life. Raza is a soft spoken and kind man, and one who admits to not even being much of a “Star Wars” fan when all is said and done.
Acting as a precursor to what would become a common practice in modern internet bullying his video was uploaded by classmates without his consent. What began as a mere “gag” on their part turned him in to in infamous personality who’d be peppered throughout pop culture and the media throughout the early aughts. Along with Raza, director Fournier interviews Raza’s supportive lawyer who helped through his initial lawsuit, Amanda Brennan a noted web archivist, and of course Andy Baio. Baio is the man who coined the phrase “Star Wars Kid” and contributed to the circulation of the video throughout 2003. Raza is able to reconcile a lot of his past and come to terms with his infamy, all while garnering different perspectives from the aforementioned people.
What’s interesting is the dispelling of a lot of myths surrounding Raza, the meeting with Baio, and how he found a way to move forward. While Fournier does encapsulate a very turbulent moment during the conception of the internet, “The Rise of the Digital Shadows” is also a fascinating, stirring discussion about bullying, journalistic ethics, privacy, and the curse of being an accidental celebrity.
CINEJOY featuring CINEQUEST Artists is held from March 1st through March 12th