CAPITALISING ON ANNA
It’s in the way she captured people’s attention that you’d know what a narcissistic bitch Anna was; she was a psychotic bitch with a penchant for reading faces, body language and a perfect manipulator with every card in the book of emotional blackmail at her disposal. Reflecting over it, I wonder what exactly she had that captivated people’s minds and attention… was it the faux wealth? I mean, she was as rude and dismissing as they came. Looking at it from a social angle, I’d say people were captivated by what they wanted to see and the need to belong to a high-class social group which Anna offered. HOW? did that girl organize events with the one percent of the one percent of the New York society? How did she wiggle her way into top-ranking gatherings without people sniffing her out? Musing over it as one would over wine, you cannot deny the brilliance and intelligence she had. Narcissism and psychotics aside, Anna knew her onions and was rarely ever backed into a corner without a game plan in mind. Was that what they admired?
Vivian
After seeing Shonda Rhime’s depiction of Anna Delvey’s story, I am tempted to believe that the story isn’t exactly about Anna but Vivian Kent’s obsession with Anna and her story. Because explain to me why you would be pregnant and not care about the child growing inside of you or about your health just because you are after a story that will cause an uproar in the society and presumably get you out of the writing slum that you have been pushed into. And what is that horrible and irritating attitude towards a man who is nothing but supportive? Vivian was nothing but a self-centred, self-absorbed, obsessive, whiny baby who was ready to squeeze her face into the shape of a spoilt bowl of melting ice cream. What exactly was her story? Especially with her editor who was her supposed former friend with whom she seemed not to respect existing protocols because of their beef. Let’s face it, the ladder had her way below Paul and Landon, so why and how did she have the guts to go against them time and time again without a query, complaint or threat of totally losing her job coming her way at the very least? The story seemed to be more about Vivian and the people around her rather than about Anna Delvey and her intelligent heists and that didn’t sit so well with me because every time she threw a tantrum, I wanted to smack her right in the face.
She had contractions and her go-to mantra was what a girl sitting at Rikers Island — who had never been married or pregnant — said about pregnancy? I mean, what in the name of an affirmation is “people squat in fields and I am not special”? How can you be manipulated and you are too blind to see that you are being gaslighted and manipulated by a silly fame-hungry girl awaiting trial? Being Pregnant is special, being alive is special! And one girl told you that you are not special because she doesn’t like the way you dress or that there is discomfort written over your face in your stressed state? Yet, this same girl dismissed what you sweated, stressed and laboured over because she wasn’t made to feel special in the article you wrote about her? Come on!!!!!!
That Vivian took that mantra to heart and had the guts to have her water broken at the last dot on her article pissed me off even more. I know you can’t time when the water will break and all but the fact remains that she chose to still undergo stress despite knowing her EDD was close by. Last dot, water breaks and the whole of Scriberia are jubilating? Don’t get me wrong, I love the folks in Scriberia — sweet old souls. But, why are you people jubilating when you should be scolding her for stressing? On the other hand, I think I admire Vivian’s ambition to get out of that writing slump and revive her career — it was quite admirable. But it doesn’t change the fact that somewhere within me, I felt she would turn out to be an awful mother with the nonexistent bond between her and the unborn child during her pregnancy stage.
JACK
Someone, explain to me the importance of Jack’s presence in Anna Delvey’s story, please! I mean, he was not a journalist, neither did he come in contact with her or have any specific interest in her except for his vicarious interest which was developed through his wife. On the other hand, he should be given the award of the husband of the year because, I am not a man, but I would have had it up to my throat with Vivian and her tantrums. How he managed to be selfless through it all has to be studied… being with Vivian every step of the way? Kudos to him!
NEFF
Neff was a character that was so difficult to make excuses for. Her blindness when it came to Anna or should we call it an undying loyalty? She was as loyal as gum stuck in your hair — refusing to come out of that space no matter how hard you tried. Her loyalty was sickening and toxic when it came to her dealings with Rachel. Anna owed Neff about $1,500 and she knew how suffocating that felt, but when Rachel wanted to cut ties because of a debt of $62,000 which could jeopardise her job? Rachel suddenly became the girl who was mooching off Anna?! Come on! Y’all were mooching off her!
Can we also talk about the court-fashion stunt that was pulled? Who in their right minds — after hearing of how this fake heiress lived off people and committed fraud all over New York — would make moves to help her become more famous by opening up a social media page for her while she was on trial? I think Neff was as psychotic as Anna to believe that Anna wasn’t in the wrong and claiming she saw Anna for who she was, when all Anna did was to use her to climb ladders under the façade of being friends with her.
RACHEL
Poor, poor, capitalist girl at the end of the day… Was it capitalism? Or a therapeutic way of getting over the trauma of being scammed by a friend who invited her on an all-expense-paid trip to Morocco? Rachel wanted to be in with a socialite who could let her into the top socialite crews of New York… it would boost her network, most especially because of her career. She wanted the life Anna was living, no matter how real or fake it was. She saw a glamorous life on Instagram and she wanted in. What’s the worst that could happen right? Well, she was in for the shock of her life! It’s quite traumatising to go through such a situation, being gaslighted and ghosted at the same time while trying to save her name and Job. A debt she has to pay for the rest of her life, a debt she was chasing the rich heiress for months for. At the end of it all, she got Anna arrested, wrote a book and got deals off telling her story. Let me chip in a little motivation here… Tell your story! You never know who is listening and how you’d cash out from it. *Wink
KACY
Permit me to bring in a little bit of bias and say how much I love Laverne Cox and how well she played her role. Focus! Kacy might not be seen as a victim as much as Rachel was a victim but she was a victim… Kacy was a victim of Anna with Anna’s barging into her premises uninvited and having the guts to blackmail Kacy emotionally into letting her stay and booking her a flight. Pffft! Who does that?
Her trust was broken — that which she had in Rachel — because Rachel said nothing about getting a deal off the story, despite being a moral and emotional support for Rachel all through the ride. It wasn’t like she was going to collect money from Rachel if she had told her, but if you dragged me into the mess, let me know when you find a solution too!
Another tip here; do not inherit other people’s enemies, because they won’t tell you when the issue is resolved and the enemy becomes a friend.
After the long haul of seeing the characters in Anna’s life and story, I have concluded that everyone was capitalising on Anna’s life and trials — her lawyer inclusive. He needed her case to be seen as a legal mastermind to get more cases and clients. I won’t fault them though, you have to do what you have to do, right? Here and now, I’ll need an explanation about the attachment and obsession that Todd had with his client because that obsession reeked so much it “stenched” into his marriage, almost burning it to the ground. If stinks could burn…
At the end of it all, we have to agree that Todd, Vivian and Neff had saviour complexes minus the fact they were all trying to get something out of being involved in her story. Their obsession and attachment go to prove that they all felt she was just a harmless bird who had big dreams and the balls to pull off the stunts she pulled. Anna pulled every string in the book — people strings, financial strings and emotional strings — she had it at her whim and she used it as she so wished.
Coming to the real Anna, I have to say that people in the society must have been blinded by Jazz because what is “heiressing” in Anna Sorokin’s body? Her court fashion were just regular clothes with rough hair and skin… so what exactly was it? What pulled people in? The fairy-tales? Or the accent that seemed to be the one thing that pissed me off the most?
Let’s go back to her childhood… I believe that our lifestyle in our adulthood is partly or largely shaped by our childhood which are the formative years of an individual’s life. Anna Sorokin was said to have been quiet in school while growing up; quiet and quite fascinated or obsessed with fashion magazines and fashion itself. What little teenage girl doesn’t love a fairy-tale, or dream to be a princess with the world at her call and beckon? Her family was a working-class family, average parents who gave and helped their children in whatever way they could — her rent was subsidized while she was in London, despite not being in constant touch with her parents. Her father said she only called when she wanted to make monetary demands, which he very much obliged. Coming back to Anna, it seemed she wanted more out of life, hated that her parents were average people, she had an insatiable thirst for wealth and fame, a hunger for being with the one percent of the one percent and a need to be in constant control. She wasn’t up for a mediocre lifestyle that living from pay-check to pay-check could only offer. Anna said; “go big, or go home!”. She wasn’t up for a “yes ma”, “yes sir” kind of life. She wanted to be in the magazines she admired and dreamt about as a kid, she wanted to live the life she daydreamed about as a child, the life she saw in those magazines — a real-life princess and not a make-believe one as in her dreams. So she went out, dreams in sight, stories on her lips, intelligence in her brain and people skills at hand; ready to conquer the world — and that she did; at the detriment of others, without remorse and in the wrongest way possible.
