The "Star Wars" School Board Campaign Commercial
Knight ran for one of five new at-large seats on the Rockingham County, North Carolina Board of Education in 2006, at the age of 32, and self-produced a series of television commercials for his campaign. Knight paid for airtime and the commercials were broadcast on WGSR Star 39 from Reidsville, North Carolina in the month leading up to the November 7 election.
The first commercial that Knight created, dubbed simply "Christopher Knight for School Board Commercial #1", played off the Star Wars movies. In the one-minute spot, the Death Star destroys a tiny red schoolhouse while a female voice actress describes how legislation like No Child Left Behind has turned the federal government into a "cosmic bully" that is "targeting and destroying our ability to best teach our children". The second half of the commercial features Knight wielding a blue-bladed lightsaber, describing how he is a "fiscal conservative" who wants more local control over the county's schools. The commercial ends with Knight twirling the lightsaber in a flourish as he vows "to defend a bright and shining future for the children of Rockingham County".
Knight uploaded the commercial to YouTube, and it soon became noticed by a larger audience. In the weeks before the election, it was featured in many regional newspapers, was shown on the Fox News Channel and was mentioned in The New York Times. By the end of the year, the "Star Wars" school board ad had aroused the attention of Edutopia, the magazine of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, which declared Knight's commercial to be the "Best Campaign Ad Ever".
Knight aired two more commercials before the election, but he failed to win a seat. He came in 8th place out of 16 candidates who ran, which was the largest slate for a single race in Rockingham County history.
Over the next several months, Knight's commercial was screened at the American Film Institute, and was featured on the Heritage Foundation website and in numerous other media outlets.
Read more about this topic: Christopher Knight (filmmaker)
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