KOCHI: If terrible political banners and well coined slogans used to be the daily fare in the college campuses in the city earlier, in this digital era the students are taking to posting trolls from movies to highlight their thoughts. Most of the campuses in the city have their own troll pages to reach of the troll among the students. Students of Sacred Heart’s, Maharaja’s College, Government Law College and St Albert’s College are the pioneers in using trolls to reach out their fellow being in the campus.
‘Sandhesham’, which is the greatest political satire to be ever released in Malayalam film industry completed 25 years last week, is the most sought in the campus. The the dialogues from this movie now speak for the students. ‘Panchavadi Palam’ a K G George movie in 1984 was the forerunner in trolling the ruling class.
The envious ‘likes’ and ‘share’ of these troll pages from the campus community on the Facebook show how popular this trend has become. These trolls have worked perfectly to get the attention of the authorities, to take up serious issues among students and create a general opinion regarding matters related to the campus. The subject for the daily troll is obtained from among the students. The issues and concerns they share among themselves are then brilliantly converted into trolls. The impact can be seen when damaged coolers suddenly get repaired after a troll regarding the issue trended on the web. “Reach of the campus trolls was big during college union elections,” says administrator of Troll Maharajas.
Apart from beaming issues and concerns, troll pages have been appreciative and have recognised supportive teachers and lauded students’ achievements. Students of Maharaja’s began a troll page for fun, but this later on evolved as a thoughtful tool for internal talks.
“First, we chose troll as a tactic to gain the attention of students on certain issues. When we got immense response from the campus community, troll suddenly became a matter of discussion. The success of the troll lies in being highly satirical,” says admin of SHC Trolls: Originals, troll page of Sacred Heart College.
It is evident from a variety of troll posts that the students are aware and vigilant about every matter inside the campus. Since troll posts are being well received by the audience in other campuses, admins often discuss with each other to share ideas and posts.