Profitting Off Anna
When the production of INVENTING ANNA was announced, I was excited — finally, someone was going to compile all of the aspects of the Anna Delvey saga into one story. Anna Delvey, to those of you who live under a rock (or perhaps have more highbrow interests than me) is the pseudonym of Anna Sorokin, aka, The Soho Grifter: a young Russian-German woman who came from nothing yet managed to fake her way into Manhattan’s elite social circles and who came this close to securing a multi-million-dollar loan to open her dream arts centre. Some painted her as a Robin Hood for the underpaid and overworked side-hustle crowd, while others have interpreted her actions as nothing more than the desperate lies of a fame hungry millennial trying to take what they can from others more deserving (I’m sure many NYC socialites are decent people who spent lots of time taking care of their grandparents to earn their trust funds…).
From bestselling novels written by those in Anna’s circle, to the investigative journalism done by Jessica Pressler of New York Magazine, and even including first hard admissions and articles written by Anna Delvey herself, the Shonda Rhimes’ produced Netflix show had a wealth of interesting source material to draw from. And yet, the show falls flat. Rather than basing itself entirely in reality, the show is full of fake story lines and many needless additions about various social issues like sexism, ham fisted plots, and life details of characters like reporter Vivian Kent (a fictionalized version of the talented journalist Jessica Pressler), a formerly shamed writer who is determined to salvage her career before her baby is due (Vivian even crafts an ‘Anna crime web’ on her nursery wall — so quirky!).
For a show about Anna Delvey, the show actually focuses very little on, well, Anna Delvey. Rather than portraying her as an intelligent person with her own agency, the show portrays her in a passive light — as a muse for everyone else to project on to — instead of offering the audience a glimpse into her motives or letting us into her own thought process. This is similar to the way that Marilyn Monroe is depicted in every Hollywood film and book about her life. Inventing Anna is yet another example of how the mainstream media really doesn’t know how to handle complicated women.
Had the writers stuck to the true story, or as true of a story as can be presented when interviewing a con artist, they could have explored topics of wealth inequity, classism, and hell, even agism and sexism (all of the isms!) in a much more authentic light.
Full disclosure: I do not regularly review things. In fact, I hold some pretty unfavourable views about people that review others art for a living. I recognize the hypocrisy of me writing this piece. The reason that I am writing this though, is because like so many others, I find myself fascinated by the actual Anna Delvey saga. By what it says about western societies class divisions, how we value money above all else (but only if obtained the ‘right’ way — i.e., “old money” vs. “new money”), and honestly, her hustle. As an independent artist myself who did not come from money and who has zero powerful connections, there’s a part of Anna that I can’t help but respect.
By sheer moxie, this foreigner with absolutely no previous professional connections managed to find herself in the middle of one of the world’s most exclusive social circles, traveled the world, and managed to create experiences for herself that most of us could only dream of. No, I am not saying that lies should be commended and that society should reward scammers, but let’s take a step back and look at the actual fallout of Anna’s actions. With one exception, the people that experienced any sort of financial loss due to Anna’s actions were all insured businesses or incredibly rich individuals who had their funds either covered by insurance or banking loop holes (the grand total of her crimes was $275,000 USD, which has now been repaid). Unless I am missing something, the one working class individual who lost any money because of Anna was Rachel DeLoache Williams, a formerly struggling writer who now has a best-selling book and established career because of her time with Anna. Jessica Pressler’s article “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It” also lead to her selling the story to Shonda Rhimes. On a macro-level, it actually seems like everything actually worked out pretty well for everyone in Anna’s life, but Anna. Just as the upper classes always find ways to capitalise off of subcultures by commodifying literally everything that the “poors” deem cool or trendy first, a multitude of previously connected and established individuals have found themselves even richer because of the actions of Anna Delvey, while she sits in prison.
I would argue that the reason Anna was convicted for larceny wasn’t because of the actual monetary amount (there are a multitude of unprosecuted financial crimes by bigger fish than Anna that I could list here), but because she dared fool those at the top of the social and financial food chain. Her actions laid bare that all someone needed to do was to dress and sound the part in order to find a way into the Manhattan socialite’s cozy and exclusive world. That there really isn’t anything that different about those at the top and those at the bottom, except for imaginary social rules that were laid out by some old rich guys in a time long past. Anna’s real crime was that she showed that the ‘elites’ aren’t that special after all.
It is disappointing that Inventing Anna didn’t stick to reality, but I know if Anna ever publishes her own memoir, it will be one hell of a read.