The following contains spoilers for Hulu’s The Dropout and Netflix’s Inventing Anna.
Two new biopic series have come to streaming, with The Dropout and Inventing Anna both premiering earlier this year. Although there’s been some debate over which of the two real-life criminals is the better con-artist, there’s one incredibly interesting personality trait both women seemed to share. Bluntness is often seen as a negative trait for women as they are usually forced to appear demure and approachable, especially in work situations. But the way these two women bluntly approached powerful businessmen actually worked in their favor in winning these individuals over and successfully tricking them for a long period of time.
In their respective stories, both women are presented with a moment in their lives where they desire funding for an idea. Most people would simply keep the idea with them as they worked lower-level positions and slowly earned enough credibility in their field to receive large investments into these complicated concepts. Both women in the show expressed not wanting to set the groundwork for these paths as they simply wanted the money now. To receive these funds, they had to lie and push their way into investments, which started a trend of committing fraud to reach their personal goals.
For Elizabeth Holmes (played by Amanda Seyfried) in The Dropout, she frames her project at Theranos as a life-changing product. She started with hopeful aspirations to make her idea a reality, but she lacked the scientific knowledge or background to receive funding from investors. Since she had no true savings to keep the project afloat, she decided to lie about the product working to get people to sign on. Simply lying didn’t do the job, though, as it’s difficult to pretend a product works without ever allowing anyone official to see it, but Holmes wins many of these investors over by using her blunt personality.
Many of these powerful men aren’t used to young women speaking to them in such a manner, so they’re taken aback and view her as special or different because of her ability to look them in the eye and tell them something negative about themselves. This adds complexity to her image and wins her not only their investments but also their loyalty as multiple investors put their careers and reputations on the line for her. They see her as being direct and honest because she says what she thinks, but they don’t realize that desperation for funds might be the true motivator in speaking to them the way she does.
In Inventing Anna, Anna Sorokin (played by Julia Garner) uses similar tactics as she attempts to receive funding for her elite venue idea. Although the show has some differences from real life, Sorokin mentions multiple times in the first two episodes that she doesn’t want to work for anyone even though she’s offered a job with a rich and powerful man early in the show. She impressed him when her boyfriend was trying to land an investment for his new app. This potential investor was brushing them off, and she saved the day by bluntly asking him if he thinks he knows better than others just because he’s old. This comment would be considered rude by most, but the man actually respects her, and he decides to go ahead and invest.
After this situation, she has a dramatic back and forth with her boyfriend over money as she never seems to foot the bill for any of their extravagant traveling. When their relationship is in peril, Sorokin confesses to not having access to the funds from her father anymore. She has no choice now but to work. She’s already expressed the desire to never work for someone else, so her plans lead her straight into the offices of various investors as she tries to make her vague club idea a reality without doing the groundwork to actually gain credibility as an individual businesswoman.
Both women used their ability to speak bluntly to others as a way to shock them into questioning their stance. This worked for them as con-artists as they were able to secure funding for ideas rather than actual fleshed-out products worth backing. They also later used intimidation and deflection as tactics to keep the funding secure for their personal gain.
To watch how these women hood-winked powerful investors, watch The Dropout on Hulu and Inventing Anna on Netflix.