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If you want to start a real fight in a certain corner of the internet, just bring up Goncharov. Not the lost mafia epic from 1973—because, of course, that film never existed. I’m talking about the sprawling, obsessive, and fiercely creative Tumblr fandom that willed Goncharov into being, only to immediately fall into heated arguments over what is and isn’t canon. These are the moments, theories, and choices that fuel endless threads, impassioned manifestos, and, sometimes, genuine friendship-ending rants.
At number five: the original authorship of Goncharov. This is the debate over who “really” made the film in-universe—Martin Scorsese or Matteo JWHJ0715. The debate started because the boot tag that launched the meme credited “A film by Matteo JWHJ0715 presented by Martin Scorsese,” while the viral poster by Alex Korotchuk led many to treat Scorsese as the director. Some fans insist that Scorsese is the only plausible auteur, citing the mafia film setting in Naples and the supposed 1973 production date, which align with his early body of work. Others argue for Matteo JWHJ0715 as the true creator, referencing the original Tumblr post and the metafictional layers of the meme. The mechanism here is collaborative storytelling: Tumblr’s “yes, and” culture means every reblog can alter canon, so even the most basic production details are up for debate. This foundational ambiguity splinters the fandom, with some fans demanding a single timeline and others thriving on the chaos.
Coming in at number four: the “lost film” narrative. The fan consensus is that Goncharov was never given a proper release due to a troubled production, which supposedly explains its obscurity. But the specifics of that troubled production are a constant battleground. One camp imagines the film as suppressed by the studio, with rumors of legal disputes and unfinished edits, while another group envisions the reels being physically destroyed in a warehouse fire. Some even propose that the film was deliberately buried because of its controversial queer subplots. Since no footage exists, and every fan is improvising, debates over the “real” explanation become stand-ins for debates about what Goncharov should mean.
At number three: the ships. Goncharov’s fandom is notorious for its shipping wars, especially over its two most popular pairings: Goncharov/Andrey and Katya/Sofia. The supposed plot involves Robert De Niro as Goncharov, who shares a tense, potentially homoerotic relationship with his rival Andrey, played by Harvey Keitel. At the same time, Cybill Shepherd’s Katya is often imagined to have a romantic or sexual affair with Sophia Loren’s Sofia. Fans write fan fiction, draw fan art, and compose manifestos defending one ship or the other as the “true” heart of the film. The cause of the argument is that both relationships are only implied through layers of fan-created content, so every interpretation can claim textual support. Some fans accuse others of queerbaiting, while others argue that subtext is part of the point. With more than 500 Goncharov stories posted to Archive of Our Own as of November 2022, these divisions are both deep and documented.
Number two: “Ice Pick Joe” Morelli’s backstory and moral arc. John Cazale’s supposed character, Joseph “Ice Pick Joe” Morelli, is a psychopathic assassin known for using ice picks, and his subplot is said to explore themes of mental illness and childhood trauma. Some fans insist he’s a misunderstood antihero, deserving sympathy and a potential redemption arc. Others see him as irredeemable—a symbol of the violence at the heart of mafia stories. The controversy here is over whether fandom should “fix” the character, and whether it’s ethical to romanticize figures with dark pasts. This debate is especially charged because it echoes real-world discussions about problematic faves in media fandoms. The volume of fan art and fix-it fiction centered on Ice Pick Joe means this argument has spilled out into almost every corner of Goncharov’s online presence.
Finally, number one: the meaning of the clocks. If there’s one detail that’s inspired endless infighting, it’s the recurring motif of clocks in Goncharov lore. Some fans see the clocks as an allegory for fate and the inexorable passage of time, with each character trapped in cycles of violence they can’t escape. Others argue that the clocks are simply a stylistic flourish—a nod to European art cinema, or even a practical prop that’s been overanalyzed. There are still others who claim that the clock was a production accident, a goof that fans retroactively assigned meaning to. This debate is so fierce because, in the absence of real film footage, every clock theory becomes a proxy for larger fights over authorial intent, meaning, and the boundaries of interpretation. At least thirty fans collaborated to compose theme music that weaves in the ticking of clocks, further fueling the argument over whether the motif is central or incidental.
It doesn’t help that so many real-world figures have played along or pushed back. The New York Times reported that Goncharov became the top trending topic on Tumblr, with Scorsese himself the second most popular. In November 2022, Francesca Scorsese posted a TikTok showing her father’s dry response—“Yes. I made that film years ago”—which some fans treat as proof that the director is in on the joke, while others read it as evidence that the fandom has gone too far. Lynda Carter and Ryan Reynolds both made posts referencing their supposed roles in the film, adding fuel to the debate over which actors “really” belong in the lore.
The breadth of fan participation is staggering. At least thirty people collaborated to create original theme music, and a public Google Document was set up to coordinate the sprawling, often contradictory, plotlines and metafictional elements. As of early December 2022, Archive of Our Own counted over 600 Goncharov fanfics, making it more prolific than some real-world cult classics in terms of fan output. The fan-made Letterboxd page for Goncharov gathered enough “reviews” before being removed from the platform, which many fans cite as a badge of honor.
Autumn Chen organized a Goncharov game jam on itch.io on November 25, 2022, after a rumor spread about a lost video game tie-in. Dozens of developers created games set in the Goncharov universe, each with its own interpretation of the film’s themes and characters, leading to heated debates over which version best captured the “spirit” of the source material. Even the existence of a cat named Patchka, supposedly a minor character, has sparked arguments about the boundaries of canon.
Jamie Cohen, a media studies professor at Queens College, explained that the structure of Tumblr—threaded, stacked replies where people build off each other—makes it uniquely fertile ground for collaborative, and often contentious, storytelling. Tumblr’s official Twitter account declared Goncharov “ahead of its time,” which only reinforced the fanbase’s conviction that their creation was culturally significant.