Bottom Line: One of the Internet’s oldest memes, Star Wars Kid is also a prime example of how leaked footage, Kazaa and bad luck can transform into an Internet sensation.

On November 4, 2002 the 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. Inadvertently, he taped it over a portion of a basketball game (as seen extremely briefly at the end of the clip). The original owner of the videotape discovered it and immediately shared it with friends. Thinking that it would be a funny prank, one of them encoded it to a WMV file and published it over the Kazaa peer-to-peer file sharing network. It was also hosted on a personal website. Within two weeks, the file had been downloaded several million times. An adapted version of the video was created, adding Star Wars music, texts, and lightsaber lights and sounds to his golf ball retriever. As of November 27, 2006 it was estimated by The Viral Factory that the videos had been viewed over 900 million times, making it the most popular “viral video” on the Internet.

Meme Anatomy: Embarrassment, Kids, Pop Culture, WTF

Urban Dictionary

An overweight Star Wars fan from Quebec. He taped himself pretending to fight a lightsaber battle (every time I try to see it I’m redirected grrr) which is supposed to be so bad it’s funny. Some of his “friends” uploaded the video to the net. Soon 5 million people saw him. Oh dear.

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: Star Wars Kid

Pictures: Star Wars Kid

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 10,300 – 4
Photo Search Results: 31,000 – 4
Search Volume: 2,240,000 – 4
Blog Search Results: 67,607 – 3.5
News Search Results: 661 – 3.5

Overall Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: This meme combines a very small amount of embarrassment with a classic trope of Internet phenomenon, children doing silly things. It’s hard to tell just how much this little boy will appreciate his stint of Internet fame but we will leave that to history to decide.

This is a video of my then 7 year old son David in May 2008 I had my Flip video camera with me. His mom wasnt able to go because of work. I taped some of the morning before the surgery to show her and was already planning to tape afterwards. He had just had a tooth removed due to Hyperdontia or extra tooth. This was taken in the parking lot of the dentist office. He was so out of it. The staff was even laughing. This lasted for a few hours and he was fine. He even laughed at the video that night.

He is very smart and always has something interesting to say about many different issues. His philosophical reaction to the medication didnt really suprise us.

David is a very good kid and I am blessed to have he and his brother William as sons.

This has been a great experience for our family. Thanks for watching.

Meme Anatomy: Kids, WTF

Other Sources

Videos: David After Dentist

Pictures: David After Dentist

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 5,130 – 3.5
Photo Search Results: 646 – 2.5
Search Volume: 13,800,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 83,348 – 3.5
News Search Results: 37 – 2

Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Edgar’s Fall is a meme that plays on the fact that the Internet loves to see people hurt themselves, especially if those people need subtitles.

The video features a young Mexican kid named Edgar and his cousin Fernando hiking in a ranch near their home town of Monterrey. The video starts with Edgar being afraid of trying to cross a small stream using two long branches as a bridge. Soon after Edgar starts crossing, Fernando starts moving one of the branches, making Edgar curse angrily with a Mexican “norteño” (northern) accent until he finally loses his balance, plunges into the stream and curses even more as he emerges from the water.

Edgar’s fall was the subject of much media exposure in México which included newspapers and the clip being shown on the TV news.

There are ringtones, games, parodies, remixes and even a web page where Edgar is proposed for Mexico’s presidency. There are over 20 versions of the video including Star Wars, Mario Bros, Street Fighter, and Pokémon. Some publicity campaigns have made use of the video without worries of copyright issues, for example Nike’s Joga Bonito campaign. Edgar has also gained other media exposure, appearing on TV shows and in newspapers.

Meme Anatomy: Vaguely Foreign, Embarrassment, Overreactions, Leaked, Kids

Other Sources

Videos: Edgar’s Fall

Pictures: Edgar’s Fall

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 1,400 – 3
Photo Search Results: 392 – 2
Search Volume: 129,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 88 – 1
News Search Results: 0 – 1

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: From way back when television was the only place Internet memes could be born, this classic Ally McBeal reference is still recognizable by anyone who started using the Internet back in dialup days.

Welcome back 1997, we missed you. For those who are interested, the Dancing Baby was created in 3D Studio Max and has appeared in mainstream media on shows like Ally McBeal.

Meme Anatomy: WTF, Kids

Urban Dictionary

A Dancing Baby is a fat ‘plastic’-looking baby that dances around when Ally McBeal gets broody. Can be picked up and bounced around like a ball.

Other Sources

Videos: Dancing Baby

Pictures: Dancing Baby

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 72,400 – 4.5
Photo Search Results: 44,700 – 4.5
Search Volume: 851,000 – 3.5
Blog Search Results: 25,450 – 3
News Search Results: 1,530 – 5

Overall Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars