Goncharov Explained: How the Internet 'Discovered' a 'Lost' 'Martin Scorsese' Movie

As Twitter seems poised to implode in slow motion and other social networks vie to become its successor, Tumblr, longtime home of the postmodern meme and weirdly enduring joke, is busy create a classic film — and its vast lore that goes with it — for fun. If you log on to Tumblr this week, chances are you'll see not just fake "Goncharov" posters and gifsets, but also fake Letterboxd reviews, totally made-up (but hilarious) speeches about the politics of the film and queer theory readings, a "Goncharov" score (compiled by @thisisnotjuli) and a seemingly endless amount of metatextual history about the making of the nonexistent film.

Within days, the joke also spread beyond the confines of the site where it started. If you search for "Goncharov" on Letterboxd, you'll find listings like "movies inspired by Goncharov (1973)", by user @foxantoine. If you check TikTok, you might find a "Goncharov" cosplay or explainer video; the "Goncharov" tag, which admittedly also shares a name with a manga character, now has more than 2 million views. Uquiz user @sormsorm even created a "Which Goncharov (1973) character are you?" quiz which, at the time of publication, has been answered over 38,000 times (I have Goncharov himself!).

And the movie, which as previously stated doesn't exist, currently has more fanfiction available on Archive of Our Own than James' "Avatar" movies Cameron, popular new shows like "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" and "Severance", and, I think it's safe to say, any Scorsese movie.