#i had this thought and added it to the tv tropes page for posterity

[jq37]

Having just rewatched it, one of my favorite subtle bits in Disenchanted is when Giselle gets the idea to make the cupcakes to campaign for Morgan to win princess so she'll be popular and have friends because, in the background, the "That's How You Know" motif from the first movie plays and the clear implication is that her thought process is, "How can I make sure that Morgan knows that I really really love her? Oh, duh, grand gesture!" She's keeping the same energy for all her close relationships, romantic or not, which I love. And it really shows how differently their trains of thought are running pre-wish because while Morgan is angsting over whether she counts as Giselle's real daughter at all, Giselle's personal score is literally playing the platonic version of first movie's catchiest love song.

[incorrectclassicbookquotes]

Essay on Goncharov is below cut. I used Wikipedia for the casting so if anything is wrong there blame Wikipedia. The theme of the class was the simulation and reality vs unreality so I had to add that into the essay and it couldn’t be that long because it is a Wild Card essay.

When exactly does a movie become real? Most would argue that it becomes real the moment a movie is filmed and put out for the world to see. However, Tumblr has proven that a movie might become real the moment it is thought up. This is true in the case of Martin Scorsese’s 1973 movie Goncharov which doesn’t actually exist.

On August 21st, 2020, Tumblr user zootycoon posted a photo of knockoff boots that said on the tag “Martin Scorsese presents Goncharov” and titled it “The Greatest Mafia movie ever made.” Of course the original poster learned that the movie Goncharov did not actually exist and wrote underneath the photo, “I got these knockoff boots online and instead of the brand name on the tag they have the name of an apparently nonexistent Martin Scorsese movie??? What the fuck.” Tumblr being Tumblr could not let this go and just a few weeks ago a slew of posts, fanart, fanfiction, and musical scores were flooded on Tumblr with people making casting choices and whole plot lines about the nonexistent movie Goncharov.  

The movie from what I have gathered is about a bunch of Russian mobsters in Italy with the leading man Goncharov who is played by Robert De Niro. He is married to Katya whom Tumblr has cast to be played by Cybil Shepherd. However he is gay and in love with an Italian mobster who is his rival Andrey played by Harvey Keitel. However, that’s ok with his wife Katya because she is also in love with a woman named Sofia played by Sophia Loren. One other character that people talk about is Joseph “Ice Pick Joe” Morelli played by John Cazale. Other cast members include Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, and Lynda Carter. Lynda Carter is especially relevant since she actually cast herself in the movie since she is on Tumblr and got in on the action.

In terms of plot it mostly consists of murder and the relationships between the four main cast members, Goncharov, Katya, Andrey, and Sofia. A big theme is the existence of a clock tower which is present in many of the fanmade posters for the film. Since it is meant to be the greatest mafia movie of all time, adding too much plot would ruin that motif so instead little snippets have been added. These include a boat scene and Katya faking her own death.

Once the posts got popular on Tumblr other sites also made pages on them, including Wikipedia, TV Tropes, and Archive of our Own (a popular fanfiction site). Martin Scorsese’s Wikipedia page was edited so many times to include Goncharov on his filmography section that editing his Wikipedia page is no longer optional at this time. 

On November 25th, 2022, Martin Scorsese’s twenty-three year old daughter, Francesca posted a Tik Tok in which she showed that she had asked her father if he had heard of Goncharov and he responded that he “made that film years ago.” So it has come to the point where the appointed director of this fake film has acknowledged its presence and admitted to making it. 

This begs the question that if the director admits himself that he made this fake movie does it then become real. Even if the movie has never actually been made, is the fact that many people on Tumblr and even the director himself decide that it’s real is it real or is it still fake?

@passiveaggressiveturkeys