When I first watched a video highlighting the scams of Anna Sorokin, a Russian con who scammed New York’s financial firms and elite, I had an inkling that somebody would make a Netflix documentary about it.
Anna Sorokin posed as a German heiress on social media named Anna Delvey. Sorokin scammed hotels, financial firms, and the elite rich of New York by perpetually coming up with excuses for her faulty cards. She was inevitably caught and sent to prison with a list of crimes, from larceny to grand larceny.
My guess was correct, as Shonda Rhimes created and produced a Netflix Original, called “Inventing Anna”. The show not only chronicles the nature of Sorokin’s crimes, but also her relationship with Vivian Kent, a heavily pregnant journalist who is desperate for an interesting story.
Sorokin’s story is one of interest and definitely had a lot of potential. I was initially intrigued to see how the showrunners would depict her story, but I was left cringing and scratching my head in confusion.
Instead of focusing on Sorokin, the show shifted its focus on Kent. When I opened my laptop to watch this show, I expected to watch a show about a con artist, like the name of the show suggests, not some random journalist hitting a roadblock in her career.
Furthermore, I did not appreciate the show glamorizing sociopathy and the art of scamming people. It is important to remember first and foremost that Anna Sorokin is a criminal who left many hotels, financial institutions, and people in heavy debts and precarious positions. At some point, it almost felt like the show was justifying her actions, which did not sit right with me.
With shows such as “Inventing Anna,” people should present the nature of peoples’ crimes as is, without glorifying their negative behavior and giving them the attention they crave.