Hold the Sympathy: Rachel Williams Cautions Audiences Against Feeling Too Bad for Anna Sorokin After Watching 'Inventing Anna'
Inventing Anna chronicles the story of Anna Sorokin, the woman who conned her way into the lives and pockets of Manhattan's elite. The show shines a light on the facinating story, and some would like to caution audiences from allowing the show to breed too much sympathy for the scammer.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Rachel Williams, a former friend of Sorokin's who was conned out of $62,000, said that the show's half truths are incredibly harmful. She was taken aback by the nearly positive light shone on Anna Sorokin as someone who was impacted first-hand by her crimes.
"I think promoting this whole narrative and celebrating a sociopathic, narcissistic, proven criminal is wrong...Having had a front-row seat to [the Anna circus] for far too long, I've studied the way a con works more than anybody needs to. You watch the spectacle, but you're not paying attention to what's being marketed."
There is something compelling about Sorokin. That is what made her such a successful con-artist. Her story shares that simillar, curiosity inducing energy. Yet, in this quest for what is curious, some of the facts are often ignored.
"Everyone talks about Anna's star power-they were so clearly taken with this subject that they began to empathize with her. If you think about it, what do con artists do? They tell stories. Stories have so much power when it comes to creating belief. So everybody has bought into this fantastical narrative that has become so devoid of fact but still has the illusion of truth. The facts are boring, I guess, but they're important."
While any similarity between the two would definitely not be thought of kindly by Williams, they do share a similar resoution: they will not be watching Inventing Anna.
"I haven't watched the whole thing yet-I've been skimming. I started and was like, I'm not sure I have the stomach for this. I've seen enough of it to know my objections. Part of the reason I didn't want to speak up [initially] was because I think people will want to couch my statements within the Rachel-vs.-Anna narrative. And I mean, yes, I am concerned about some very obvious, refutable factual inaccuracies."
Thank you Rachel Williams for sharing a powerful and important perspective on this story.
