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Green Parody Series:  Backgrounds and beginnings

What is a parody account?

Their tweets make people laugh about anything from students’ struggles to the University’s events. Parody accounts regularly inject humor into Lasallian life and gain a decent following for it. But whenever you read their jokes about life in Taft or random thoughts, do you ever ask what goes on behind the tweets? What’s their purpose and what’s it like running them? Read on as we cover everything about accounts like @Amphigong, @morefuninDLSU and @Lozolpls, from their place in society to what they put on our screens.

Parody accounts are those like @TheTweetOfGod, @CommonWhiteGirl, and @Lord_Voldemort7. We also have our own from the Philippines like @superstarmarian, @FakeNoynoy, @HecklerForever, all of which tweet about anything as sarcastic or exaggerated versions of what they’re parodying. They could talk about anything from daily life to major issues like corruption in the Philippines, for example a sarcastic comment about the help Bong Revilla has provided for the country. Basically, parody accounts get a laugh out of society.  


Humble beginnings

Before they had a huge following, they had to start where every Twitter user did: A signup page, thinking of a name. Being unknown at the beginning, this name would have to be clever enough to catch attention. Naturally, they would be funny twists on other names or something random yet creative enough to be eye-catching.

For instance, The Department of Tourism’s “More fun in the Philippines” campaign served as the inspiration for @morefuninDLSU. Likewise, the accounts playing with the concept of “jeje english” lead to @Lozolpls.  In contrast, sometimes inspiration could come from unexpected places. The idea for @Amphigong, according to its creator, came from a random person asking “What if the turtle in the Amphitheatre had a Twitter account?” online.

While they do seem silly, each of them have their own reasons for setting up an online personality. For some, it was to promote our culture. @Amphigong, for example, aims to lighten up the Lasallian image. Lasallians are stereotyped as being sosyal or rich, so he wants to bring out their more down-to-earth or masa side.

They also aim to gain popularity and followers. @Lozolpls’s initial goal was to be the most popular “school pls” account and is now close to that goal today. While @Lozolpls has not let go of that goal, nowadays he says “I tweet because I want to make people happy.”

Impact on their audience

As anything has the potential to be parodied, so it is in DLSU. Posing as stereotypical students, inanimate objects, or various animals inhabiting the University, they poke fun at our conyo lifestyles and share our pain during finals. They have their own role in our community with their involvement.

They give us something to laugh at about ourselves or the things they parody. But depending on how they’re used, DLSU Psychology professor Darren Dumaop says that parodies can open doors for critical thinking. Followers are updated with the news, whether it’s about PBB or Napoles, because of their priority to be up-to-date with their posts. While they do this, Dumaop says, “Parodies somehow motivate people to think that if we can make fun of ‘giants,’ say political figures, then it’s okay to criticize them.”


Dumaop describes parodying as “a responsibility for those who have talent for it.” According to him, when a parody account aims to be involved in a society’s dialogue, not just to bash topics, it can result to its betterment. It seems that parodying has a bigger effect than we realize when we agree or disagree with what they say. They bring awareness and opinions on issues people may normally look over.

 

Who are they?

If there is one thing @Amphigong, @Lozolpls, and @morefuninDLSU do not want to talk about, it is their true identities.

As much as they are asked, the most personal information they are willing to give are things like having their account being run by two people or explaining that there are recent graduates behind them. The choose not to disclose their identities for their privacy, as well as to prevent the accounts from being associated with an individual.

As @Amphigong says, “I may or may not be a student. I may or may not be a professor, or I may really be one of the turtles in the pond.” We may never really know who’s behind them, but then again, it may be better that way. After all, where’s the fun in a parody account when you can no longer imagine the actual turtle in the Amphitheater tweeting?

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Now that the beginnings of three of the many parody accounts of DLSU are out and about, how do they actually manage and maintain their accounts? View the second part of the DLSU Parody Accounts series at http://thelasallian.com/2014/07/24/green-parody-series-keeping-up-the-parody/

Arielle Poblete

By Arielle Poblete

Nathaniel Sierras

By Nathaniel Sierras

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