Inventing Anna
The miniseries that premiered on Netflix February 11 was based on the story of Anna Sorokin, a conwoman who tricked New York City’s richest to let her into their closed circles by pretending she was a German heiress. The series drew heavily on reporting by New York Magazine journalist Jessica Pressler and other stories about her escapades and eventual arrest in 2017. During that time, she scammed $275,000 from banks, hotels, and her fellow rich.
The series stars Anna Chlumsky as fictional journalist Vivian Kent and Julia Garner as Sorokin, alongside a rather solid cast, but the show has been abused by critics for what they called an inconsistent tone. It also tries to add more drama to sit alongside the whole conning the uber wealthy out of their money, so it also gets rather bogged down.
But it does offer a glimpse into how assumed privilege can easily become real privilege once you’re allowed a breach into presumed social circles, something neo-riche tech billionaires can probably understand.
