Goncharov, Star Wars, Stonewall, and Disco, and the 1970s: an epiphany.
ETA: This is a discussion of Goncharov as a meme and how it relates to Queer culture, therefore I am not tagging it with the âunrealityâ tag. Goncharov is not a real film, but that doesnât mean it isnât important; for reasons I will now explain.
I may be going crazy, but I think I am on to something regarding the true meaning of the whole Goncharov phenomenon, and itâs kind of related to Vaporwave and the image that people who didnât grow up in the 1980s or early 1990s (or who have hazy memories of it from their earliest childhood) have enshrined it in the âaestheticâ of vaporwave. But while the themes of Vaporwave are tied to capitalism and consumerism, the âaestheticâ of the 1970s has very different associations.
The whole 70s-to-80s transitional vibe is a favorite topic of mine: right before the Muskrat bought twitter, I tweeted a whole thread about how Panos Cosmatos channels that whole vibe better than nearly any director Iâve ever seen. (Yes, even Quentin Tarantino - fight me.)
People are watching the new Star Wars media, which are all based around the Original Trilogy and therefore have sort of the same 70s âaesthetic lookâ of the time in which those movies were made. George Lucas was incorporating and repurposing as much regular stuff that existed in the 1970s that he could, and it contributed to his âused, lived in futureâ vibe that I think people really glommed onto when they saw the films.
For example: Aunt Beruâs outfit from the first film looks like something the actress could have worn on the street in 1977 without anyone giving her a second glance.
People all over the film (but particularly in the scenes on Tatooine) were wearing regular clothes and then making them over or putting accessories over them to make them look futuristic and alien; âStar Wars Boundingâ before that was really even a thing. Their regular 1970s street clothes.
This is related to Goncharov because: people are watching Andor and The Mandalorian, and theyâre starting to ask âwhat happened to the 1970s aesthetic? Why donât we bring that back?â
Even more than the 60s and the 80s were at various points, the 70s have for a long time been a punchline for bad taste, but thereâs something more sinister to it beyond merely sneering at the outdated fashion of a previous decade. And it hit me while I was watching this video about the rise of Disco and how Discoâs origins were connected with the Stonewall Riots.
The joke about the Goncharov film hoax is how itâs a âforgotten filmâ and about âanalyzing the themes of Goncharov.â About themes of homoeroticism, about two men (one of them a Discotheque owner on the run from a repressive regime) and two women who are in love, all of whom are unable to consummate that love, because of toxic masculinity and cultural expectations. About clocks being a frequent and repeating symbol - about the charactersâ time running out. And the film basically disappearing from public knowledge and being forgotten for decades because these themes were âahead of their time.â (All of this originating from a post about a pair of knockoff boots.)
Because this is a metaphor for the LGBTIQ experience in the 1970s if ever there was one. About a time when an intersection of Queer-BIPOC culture proudly asserted itself for a single shining moment in time - then was eventually subject to both a bigoted, racist backlash and a horrific epidemic so damaging and deadly that weâre still analyzing the human cost and the effect it had on society as a whole. Queer culture exploded onto the scene in the 1970s - and then its time suddenly ran out. Or was cut short.
Goncharov - or rather, the spirit and the moment in time that it represents - wasnât âforgotten.â It was buried. First under a racist, homophobic/transphobic backlash, then by the malignancy of Reaganism and the AIDS virus that Reagan and his policies enabled to spread and kill thousands. Under the sneering condescension and bigotry of the people who want this spirit to stay buried.
But this spirit is unkillable. Tumblr just gave this spirit a name: Goncharov.
This same spirit is in Andor, to a point - because Queer culture is being actively repressed by the usual bigots and fascists, and Star Wars in general has a running theme of resisting oppression, and it is firmly anchored to its 1970s roots despite taking place âa long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.â Spoiler warning for the Andor season finale: but it was impossible for me to see the scenes of rebellion and not flash back on this recent tweet from Dan Savage in the wake of the Club Q shooting:
(âOut of the bars, into the streets!â)
One of the things I think about all the time is what would have been if the right wing bigoted backlash had been turned back, and how things might be different if Reaganism and the AIDS crisis had never happened. What our culture might have become. How much further ahead we might be than we are now.
Weâre still facing that same toxic right wing backlash right now, but itâs our duty to resist and survive however we can, hoping that this time we might turn the tide.
Stonewall lives. Disco lives. Goncharov lives. Long live the Rebellion.
