Zalupa Ivanycha / Залупа Иваныча

Submission 2,049

About

Zalupa Ivanycha (rus. Залупа Иваныча) is a non-existent film that became a subject of memes, fan art and ironic fandom among Russian-speaking users in June 2023 in a trend similar to Goncharov memes several months prior. The trend was spawned by a meme poking fun at pretentious cinephiles that can easily be swayed by mainstream trends in cinema.

Origin

On June 17th, 2023, VK^[1] community Academy of Wasted Cinematographists posted a two-panel Zoomer Wojak meme about a non-existent film titled Zalupa Ivanycha (rus. Залупа Иваныча), translated to Ivanych's Dickhead. The meme imagined a snobbish reaction to a Zalupa Ivanycha the comedy series (produced with support from the Russian Ministry of Culture and a Russian state channel) and an eager reaction to Zalupa Ivanycha the thriller about the Russian countryside. The image meme used an award-winning photograph of a gathering in a Belorussian village made in 2007.

The post gathered over 3,400 reactions and 1,100 shares in four days and was widely circulated online in the following days.

Spread

On June 18th, 2023, the VK^[2] community эй свинтура posted the earliest found meme expanding the original image, adding two additional panels with a documentary about the film and a video essay by a popular Belarusian YouTuber. The post (shown below, left) gained over 320 reactions and 110 shares in three days.

In the following days, more users on VK, Twitter and Telegram built upon the meme,^[3]^[4] adding more panels to it, adding Wojak and Soyjak characters reacting to reviews by popular bloggers and websites (one example shown below, right).

On June 19th, 2023, Twitter^[5] user @Spanish_Kortez tweeted about the meme, with the tweet gaining over 180 retweets and 3,200 likes and helping to popularize it on the app.

Similar to Goncharov (a trend about a non-existent Martin Scorsese movie that arose on Tumblr in November 2022), Zalupa Ivanycha became a viral subject of memes, references and fan labor among Russian-speaking users online on VK, Twitter and Telegram. For example, on June 20th, the VK^[6] community Всякая Атмта posted fake YouTube thumbnail referencing videos by animator Mikhail MK. The post (shown below, left) received over 510 reactions and 50 shares in one day. On June 21st, the VK^[7] community MemeBlog shared a fake tweet by Hideo Kojima celebrating the film's Blu-Ray release. The post (shown below, right) gained over 320 reactions and 110 shares in one day.

Goncharov

Goncharov is a non-existent 1973 movie about a Russia-born Mafia boss named Goncharov directed by Martin Scorsese, which spawned a spontaneous collective writing project and an unreality fandom on Tumblr in November 2022. As a part of the fandom efforts, users collectively outlined the central themes, plot elements and homoerotic undertones of the film and then created fan soundtracks, posters and other content for it. Goncharov has also since been referenced in numerous memes and other jokes.