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Goncharov: Fact and Interactive Fiction

Autumn Chen

Narrascope 2023

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Overview

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/style/goncharov-scorsese-tumblr.html

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/25/goncharov-why-has-the-internet-invented-a-fake-martin-scorsese-film

https://www.inverse.com/gaming/goncharov-game-jam-martin-scorsese

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/martin-scorsese-addresses-fake-film-goncharov-tumblr-1235442497/

Goncharov is an internet phenomenon that arose on Tumblr in November of 2022.

The basic idea is that there is a movie called Goncharov made in 1973 by Martin Scorsese, and it’s like, the greatest mafia movie ever. So people create all sorts of stories and art and music, fanworks for Goncharov. It became an international sensation, with news articles from the New York Times among other places. Even Martin Scorsese himself acknowledged the existence of the fake movie, saying “I made that film years ago.”

But it turns out that the movie doesn't actually exist. Martin Scorsese never made a movie called Goncharov. People on the internet had just collectively brought it into reality.

I will be talking about what goncharov is, what people made of it, and the game jam that came out of it, as well as some of the interactive fiction works that came out of the game jam.

there will always be something lost here, with this sort of presentation, as opposed to if you experienced Goncharov from the inside, if you were on Tumblr as it was happening. but I'll try to translate it to the best of my capability.

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Origin

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(the actual origin)

Source: https://www.tumblr.com/dogsuffrage/699138960891543552/i-got-these-knockoff-boots-online-and-instead-of

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The Revival

November 19, 2022 - tumblr user beelzeebub created this movie poster.

https://beelzeebub.tumblr.com/post/701284869475614720/goncharov-1973-dir-martin-scorsese-the

Everything else snowballed from here.

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Main Characters + Cast

Goncharov (Robert De Niro)

Katya Goncharov (Cybill Shepherd)

Andrey Daddano (Harvey Keitel)

Mario Ambrosini (Al Pacino)

“Ice Pick Joe” (John Cazale)

Sofia (???)

Valery (Gene Hackman)

source: https://www.tumblr.com/shouty-y/701821565294247936/rewatched-goncharov-1973-and-did-a-few-studies

This is a list of the "canon" characters of goncharov. there are many versions of these characters, as many versions as there are participants in the Goncharov phenomenon, but there are some commonalities that arose out of the social media consensus-generation process.

First, we have the mafioso Goncharov (first name unknown), a Russian mobster who moved to Italy, and his estranged wife Katya Goncharova. Andrey "The Banker" Daddano is Goncharov's associate / rival / lover / enemy.

Then we have Mario Ambrosini, a local mafia don, Valery, Katya's brother who might work for the KGB and came from Russia to look for her, and Ice Pick Joe Morelli, a tortured and deeply religious mafia enforcer.

Finally there's Sofia, who wasn't part of the original poster, but who's a thief and exists to be shipped with Katya, so that the movie has more than one woman.

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Crew

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer (or director?): Matteo Jwjh0715

Producer: Domenico Procacci (13 years old at the time)

https://luthiery.tumblr.com/post/701614747779497984/me-explaining-to-people-why-matteo-jwhj-0715

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Plots and Scenes

https://www.tumblr.com/foervraengd/701745386506878976/goncharov-1973-oh-dont-mind-me-im-just-doing

https://www.tumblr.com/when-sanpape-arts/701550775661395968/honestly-andreys-betrayal-gave-me-actual-chills

“Time stops for no one, not even us.”

There is a huge range of potential plots in goncharov.

There's not really so much an overarching plot as a collection of scenes, because people love writing individual scenes. Since we are working with collaborative, consensus-based storytelling, if enough people liked certain scenes and reblogged their posts, basically they became part of the de facto canon.

What's consistent is that there are a lot of really big, really fraught moments, with symbolism everywhere (a cynical view might be that it’s “fake deep”, although the fakeness is, uh, kind of purposeful). And there are a lot of homoerotic moments and violent moments, or both.

There’s the fight between Goncharov and Andrey, when the latter betrays the former.

There’s the scene where Katya fakes her death with the help of Sofia, or maybe she actually dies, or something like that.

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https://www.tumblr.com/ms-musers/701523133165944832/goncharov-1973-dir-martin-scorsese

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Themes, Analysis & Discourse

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43176840/chapters/108571741

https://www.tumblr.com/monsterhospital/701394032793960448/a-few-of-of-my-favorite-goncharov-reviews-on (letterboxed reviews)

https://www.tumblr.com/onion-souls/701485392557457408 (siskel review)

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Goncharov Game Jam

https://itch.io/jam/goncharov-game-jam

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Games Within Goncharov

The games can be divided in other ways as well; there were games that focused on the meta-story of Goncharov, either a fictional story about how the movie was made, treating it as a fiction.

And there were games that took place entirely within the world of Goncharov.

Basically, all of the games were fanfiction, but they were about fanfiction for two or three different concepts - either the Goncharov "canon", Goncharov the lost 1973 Scorsese movie (the production process), or Goncharov the concept in general, a fanfiction of the fandom.

Games within Goncharov

(collage: Goncharov by stanwixbuster, two of the visial novels, Vespertine by Sophia)

So, these are some of the games that take place within the Goncharov universe. Maybe not exclusively, but primarily within the Goncharov universe. They’re often interpretations of different popular scenes in the story, for example the relationship between Goncharov and Andrey, or the relationship between Katya and Sofia, in some key pivotal moments.

It was cool seeing everyone's interpretation of the basic bones of the story. Again: this is a story without a canon, but somehow the basic archetypes and stories and scenes are all recognizable.

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Games About Goncharov: Creating Goncharov

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Games About Goncharov: Goncharov 2073

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Games About Goncharov

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Other Interactive Fiction About Fandoms

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“And despite all odds, this vast emptiness gives the game a kind of generative power. [...]. Authorial intent, in our world, is so often used to bludgeon those who interpret art in ways beyond what the author dreamed-- but here the author is the serial number of an old boot.

Goncharov is a game. More than that, it is a seed. It is an aspiration that creates something from nothing.”

On Goncharov - An Essay and Game by Hy Libre!

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Sources

Goncharov Gospel: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hhre2YKcgYH2mSWggRHMOLvPwznj_fWB5VsWtPc3BnY/edit

Sofia image: https://www.tumblr.com/shouty-y/701821565294247936/rewatched-goncharov-1973-and-did-a-few-studies

https://luthiery.tumblr.com/post/701614747779497984/me-explaining-to-people-why-matteo-jwhj-0715

https://www.tumblr.com/foervraengd/701745386506878976/goncharov-1973-oh-dont-mind-me-im-just-doing

https://www.tumblr.com/when-sanpape-arts/701550775661395968/honestly-andreys-betrayal-gave-me-actual-chills

https://www.tumblr.com/magneatio/701458033097768960/okay-because-like

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43176840/chapters/108571741 (wiki)

https://www.tumblr.com/magneatio/701458033097768960/okay-because-like (script)

https://www.tumblr.com/castanierprosper/701364374029336576/goncharov-1973-dir-martin-scorses e gif set

https://www.tumblr.com/dogsuffrage/699138960891543552/i-got-these-knockoff-boots-online-and-instead-of Gomorrah source

https://www.tumblr.com/monsterhospital/701394032793960448/a-few-of-of-my-favorite-goncharov-reviews-on (letterboxed reviews)

https://www.tumblr.com/onion-souls/701485392557457408 (siskel review)

https://www.tumblr.com/ms-musers/701523133165944832/goncharov-1973-dir-martin-scorsese (captioned screenshot set)

https://www.tumblr.com/fiddlepickdouglas/701575452775546880 why you should watch goncharov PowerPoint

https://www.tumblr.com/merualeden/701652757404418048/i-cant-believe-i-hadnt-heard-of-goncharov-1973 (art)

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Media refs

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/25/goncharov-why-has-the-internet-invented-a-fake-martin-scorsese-film

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/style/goncharov-scorsese-tumblr.html

https://www.polygon.com/23471749/goncharov-1973-explained-tumblr-meme

https://decider.com/2022/11/21/where-to-stream-goncharov-1973/

https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/goncharov-scorsese-movie-tumblr/

https://gizmodo.com/scorsese-goncharov-1973-tumblr-explained-mafia-movie-1849812229

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Music

Music masterpost (>69 tracks): https://www.tumblr.com/thisisnotjuli/701573313313587200

Soundtrack compilation https://soundcloud.com/user-305593317/sets/goncharov-original-motion-picture-soundtrack

https://www.tumblr.com/idiopathicsmile/701567185490952192

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6q2ozfwZ4 youtube compilation

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Related Works: IF About Fandom and Social Media