Personalised messages and birthday greetings from a galaxy far, far away are cheering up Kiwi kids struggling in lockdown.
By Irra Lee
On weekdays, Christchurch’s David Britten is an administrator at a real estate company.
But on weekends, Mr Britten becomes Darth Vader of Star Wars.
He’s indeed using The Force for good. Three days ago, he reached out to parents on social media with an offer to film personalised messages dressed as the Dark Lord.
“The uptake has been absolutely unbelievable,” Mr Britten told 1 NEWS.
“I’ve been quite blown away with responses from parents.”
Every video includes Mr Britten giving each child their own Stormtrooper ID along with a message to be kind. He has received about 100 requests so far and has filmed about 70.
He said a “high proportion” of requests are from parents whose kids are struggling with not being able to see their friends due to alert level four restrictions. Some are having to spend their birthdays alone, he said.
At other times, parents need a hand with getting their kids to tidy up.
“It’s going down quite a treat,” Mr Britten said, with kids taking heed of messages he’s filmed.
Mr Britten said he decided to make the offer online because, on pre-lockdown weekends, he’d usually be donning the Darth Vader costume to visit children with special needs or attend charity fundraisers with his organisation Dark Side Entertainers. Filming the personalised videos has taken him 12 hours so far over three days.
He said he considers being Darth Vader, which he does for free, a “real calling in life”. He started from humble beginnings with a simple costume. Six years and $11,000 later spent on various hand-made costume components from overseas, he’s not slowed down.
“It’s an expensive love… the only reason I’ve got for this is to spread magic around to kiddies.”
Mr Britten said he was first mesmerised by Star Wars at the age of 10 in 1977. It had been his dream since then to meet Darth Vader. While he never got the opportunity to, he said he wanted to pass down the same wonder he felt to a new generation.
“Kids just flock to him [Darth Vader].
“He’s almost as popular as Santa, in a way.”
But while kids can’t quite flock to Darth Vader while in lockdown, he said he would keep doing what he could.
“It’s very, very busy being the Dark Lord,” Mr Britten said.
“I’ve had lots of messages come saying you’re doing something very special.
“If more people took the time… the world would be a much better place.”
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