Rachel Williamsa former employee of Vanity Fair Talk about it in the newspaperwho – which Shonda Rhimes Netflix series, and Anna’s creation (Behind the heiress mask) can evoke ‘problematic’ empathy Anna Sorokina German-Russian woman who betrayed herself to a wealthy New York heiress, Anna Delphi, and was convicted of fraud.
Williams, Sorokin’s ex-girlfriend, from whom he himself cheated $ 62 thousand, and in 2019 my friend He documented his experiences in the book, inspired one of the characters in the series, and did not present very positively, which he described Katie Louise to shape. Williams hasn’t seen the entire series, but he has “see enough of it” to know what his objections are, he said in an interview with Vanity Fair.
According to Vanity Fair, Netflix paid Sorokin $320,000 for the rights to his life, which means he profited from his story, as Williams notes:
I think it’s a mistake to sell this whole story and celebrate a sociopath, a narcissist, and a convicted criminal. Since I’ve watched Anna’s circus from the front row for a long time, I’ve studied how the scam works better than anyone else should. You look cute, but you don’t really pay attention to what they’re selling
– Tell.
Of Sorokin’s eight crimes in 2019, he was asked to rob the second time and attempt a great deal of robbery in the first place, and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. He was released in 2021 but re-arrested for overstaying his visa.
Williams says the Netflix series is a disturbing mixture of fact and fiction. “This story is completely true, except for the incorrect parts,” reads the disclaimer in the series itself. “I think it’s worth looking into when a half-truth is more dangerous than a lie,” Williams says in an interview. “This disclaimer makes the show reliable enough to make it easier for people to believe fictional items. I think this is a very dangerous area. In addition, it affects the ongoing criminal proceedings.”
Williams didn’t go into specifics about what the Netflix series did well or badly, but did make clear that the narrative “serves to create sympathy for a character who lacks it.”