Goncharov
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About
Goncharov is a non-existent 1973 movie about a Russia-born Mafia boss named Goncharov directed by Martin Scorsese, which spawned a spontaneous collective writing project and an unreality fandom on Tumblr in November 2022. As a part of the fandom efforts, users collectively outlined the central themes, plot elements and homoerotic undertones of the film and then created fan soundtracks, posters and other content for it. Goncharov has also since been referenced in numerous memes and other jokes.
Origin
Prior to August 22nd, 2020, Tumblr[1][2] user zootycoon posted a photograph of their knockoff boots they had bought online. Instead of a brand name on the tag, the boots had a name of a non-existent movie presented by Martin Scorsese, titled Goncharov, together with some additional information about the film (shown below, left). On the tag, the film is referred to as "the greatest mafia movie ever made."
On August 22nd, 2020, Tumblr[1] user losermo replied to zootycoon's post with a screenshot of a comment by Tumblr user abandonedambition reading, "this idiot hasn't seen goncharov" (shown below, left).
On October 25th, 2022, Tumblr user dogsuffrage[3] made a post saying that the tag referenced a poster for the 2008 crime drama film Gomorrah by director Domenico Procacci to which Scorsese lent his name to boost its sales (shown below, right). The post together with its replies ultimately accumulated over 150,000 likes and reblogs on Tumblr over two years.
Spread
On November 10th, 2022, Twitter[4] user @ai_curio shared several AI-generated stills from the film, with the tweet gaining over 100 retweets and 390 likes in 10 days. On November 18th, Tumblr[5] user beelzeebub posted a fan-made poster for Goncharov, which included the main characters and the cast of the film (shown below). The post received over 15,700 reblogs and 19,900 likes in three days.
- Robert de Niro as Lo Straniero / Goncharov
- Al Pacino as Mario Ambrosini
- Harvey Keitel as Andrey "The Banker" Daddano
- Gene Hackman as Valery Michailov
- John Cazale as Joseph "Ice Pick Joe" Morelli
- Cybill Shepherd as Katya
On November 19th, Tumblr[6] user castanierprosper then made a fake movie GIFs post for the film, which garnered over 23,600 likes and reblogs in two days (shown below).
The posts resulted in a spontaneous collective writing project and an unreality fandom surrounding the film as users developed major themes and plot details of the movie and created fan art and other fan labor for it. Homoerotic undertones within Goncharov – Andrey and Katya – Sofia plotlines were outlined. On November 21st, Tumblr[7] user tsscat created a master post for the collectively written lore of the film (shown below).
![Goncharov Lore ("Gonchlore" if you will) Masterpost Note: this is regarding the lore made up by tumblr collaboratively about a fake Martin Scorsese film. See the post that started it all and fake poster. 1. Goncharov was released in 1973. It was written by Matteo JWHJ 0715 and directed (?) and/or possibly co-written by Martin Scorsese. Scorsese's big name helped popularize the film, but as a result JWHJ 0715's significant contribution is often overlooked 2. Goncharov was forgotten and was actually difficult to acquire for many years. This may have been due to corporations hoarding rights and access, the actually mafia targeting distribution of the film, other factors, or a combination of these. This led to pirating of the film, which allegedly led to pirating discourse surrounding the film 3. There are talks of a Goncharov II or remake 4. Goncharov is a mafia boss in Naples of Russian origin. His wife/fiancée is named Katya, also of Russian origin. Goncharov may or may not have fled Russia, and may or may not have been pursued by someone trying to get him back to Russia, possibly to face legal justice. One such person trying to do this could be Valery Michailov 5. Valery Michailov in Katya's sister. He may resent Goncharov due to his relationship with his sister and due to Goncharov being wanted by the Russian government. He is somewhat patriotic, possibly a former government worker or soldier. 6. Katya's last name is either Michailova or Goncharova (although possibly with the wrong suffix). Her relationship with Goncharov is strained, tense, and possibly loveless. She ends up betraying him in the end. This is often seen as a subversion on the typical tropes for women in mafia movies. 7. At some point, Katya is on a bridge with Goncharov. At some point, Katya points a gun at Goncharov. At some point, Katya is injured on a boat/in a boathouse. 8. Katya is amicable with someone named Sofia, who has brown hair. She also has subtextual homoerotic tension with her 9. Sofia may be working class/poorer than many of the other characters are. 10. Goncharov has subtextual homoerotic tension with someone named Andrey. Andrey is Goncharov's old friend/best friend/nemesis/enemy/competitor. There is at least one instance of one of them trying to kill the other. 11. Ice pick Joe is played by John Cazale, making this his 6th movie. He has a famous 10 minute scene with Katya, and at some point dies, also possibly at the hands of Katya. 12. Mario Ambrosini works with Goncharov, possibly as a lackey or number two. At some point in the middle of the story, he betrays Goncharov and Goncharov tells him that he "never wants to see [Mario] again". It is unclear what happens to him after that. Mario also has a relationship with Andrey that some have described as "fascinating". It is unclear how. 13. There is a clock motif in Goncharov, and a general theme regarding "running out of time" before death. There are a few characters who seem at the very least subconsciously aware of the fact that they have little time until their death. The film also deals with the theme of fate, of death and tragedy being and inevitable thing for these characters. 14. Goncharov dies at the end of the movie, due to someone's betrayal. 15. Goncharov (1973) was heavily influenced by the American Cold War propaganda of the time. Some argue that it plays right into the stereotypes of Russians, others say it is a clever subversion of the propaganda and stereotypes of the time. Feel free to add more/expand/add alternative information!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/482/172/77e.jpg "Goncharov Lore Masterpost by tsscat")
Starting on November 20th, 2022, multiple posts about the film went viral on Tumblr, with the Goncharov unreality fandom becoming the dominant subject of posts on the platform. For example, on that day, Tumblr[8] user fishfingersandscarves shared fan art for "Andrey and Goncharov's final scene" that gained over 6,800 likes and reblogs in one day (shown below, left). Also that day, Tumblr[9] user adreadfulidea made a text post in which she imagined explaining Goncharov to a "non-internet person." The post gained over 3,100 likes and reblogs in one day (shown below, right).
On November 21st, Tumblr[10] user caramiaddio posted a fan-made main theme for the film in a post that received over 29,200 likes and reblogs in seven hours (shown below).
On November 20th, Twitter[11] user @SailorHannibal made a tweet about the Goncharov fandom, helping spread awareness of the meme to that platform. Some joked about the difficulty of spreading Goncharov memery due to the cultural differences between the platforms. For example, Twitter's @curlysquare earned almost 1,500 likes for remarking (seen below left) on the differences (seen below) on November 25th, 2022.[16] @dr_nicodemus, tweeting on November 21st, compared the vitality of the Goncharov meme on Tumblr to the goings-on at Twitter that month, which was reeling from chaos created by new owner Elon Musk. This tweet (seen below right) earned over 32,000 like in less than a week.[17]
By November 28th, 2022, there were over 600 Goncharov (1973) fan fiction works on the fan fiction site Archive of Our Own.[18]
Neil Gaiman Spamming
On November 22nd, as Goncharov dominated Tumblr's trends and almost all discourse on the platform, author Neil Gaiman found himself inundated with Goncharov questions in his "Ask" section (an example seen below).
A Reddit repost celebrating the volume of Goncharov posts trolling Gaiman received over 1,000 upvotes on /r/curatedtumblr.[14] Gaiman's response to the Goncharov questions was negative.
Martin Scorsese Confirmation
In a November 26th TikTok, Francesca Scorsese, the daughter of the director, posted a screenshot of a text conversation with her father where he acknowledges Goncharov as one of his films (seen below).[12] She shared with Martin a New York Times article published on November 22nd, 2022, which described the film using many of the same examples from this entry.[13]
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7170024294574050602
Posters on Tumblr rejoiced at Scorsese's embrace of their unreality project, with user thebusylilbee on November 26th calling it "the most satisfying ending this Goncharov madness could have gotten" (seen below) and receiving over 24,400 notes in two days.[15]
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2] Internet Archive – zootycoon
[3] Tumblr – dogsuffrage
[5] Tumblr – beelzeebub
[6] Tumblr – castanierprosper
[8] Tumblr – fishfingersandscarves
[9] Tumblr – adreadfulidea
[10] Tumblr – caramiaaddio
[11] Twitter – @SailorHannibal
[12] TikTok – francescascorsese
[13] New York Times – The Fake Scorsese Film You Haven't Seen. Or Have You??
[14] Reddit – /r/curatedtumblr
[15] Tumblr – thebusylilbee
[16] Twitter – @CurlySquare
[17] Twitter – @dr_nicodemus
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