\n<\/p>\n
The music video director Diane Martel<\/a> died on Thursday, September 18, in New York, her family told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>. \u201cDiane passed away peacefully at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital\u2014surrounded by friends and family\u2014after a long battle with breast cancer,\u201d the family said. \u201cShe is survived by her aunt, Gail Merrifield Papp (wife of Joseph Papp, founder of the Public Theatre), her three beloved, loyal cats (Poki, PopPop, PomPom), and many loving lifetime friends.\u201d Martel was 63 years old.<\/p>\n Martel directed her first music video, for Onyx\u2019s \u201cThrow Ya Gunz<\/a>,\u201d in 1992. She continued to work primarily in the hip-hop world, filming Method Man\u2019s \u201cBring the Pain<\/a>,\u201d Gang Starr\u2019s \u201cMass Appeal<\/a>,\u201d and more. She also did a lot of videos for Mariah Carey, including \u201cDreamlover,<\/a>\u201d \u201cAll I Want for Christmas Is You<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cWhenever You Call<\/a>.\u201d Martel continued to work steadily in the 2000s, collaborating with Clipse, Jennifer Lopez, the Killers, Britney Spears, Franz Ferdinand, Ne-Yo, and others.<\/p>\n Martel began the 2010s with videos for Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cBest Thing I Never Had<\/a>,\u201d Alicia Keys\u2019 \u201cBrand New Me<\/a>,\u201d and more. It was 2013, however, that turned her into a household name, thanks to her headline-grabbing music videos for Robin Thicke\u2019s \u201cBlurred Lines<\/a>\u201d and Miley Cyrus\u2019 \u201cWe Can\u2019t Stop<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d video starred Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. with models Emily Ratajkowski, Elle Evans, and Jessi M\u2019Bengue. The minimalist video featured the men and the models dancing in front of a white background, and Martel explained the general concept to Grantland<\/em><\/a> in a 2013 interview: \u201cRobin asked me to make a white cyc<\/a> video. I heard the song and loved it. Here was an opportunity to try out some of my ideas about sales and craft working in unison.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to deal with the misogynist, funny lyrics in a way where the girls were going to overpower the men,\u201d Martel continued. \u201cLook at Emily Ratajkowski<\/a>\u2019s performance; it\u2019s very, very funny and subtly ridiculing. That\u2019s what is fresh to me. It also forces the men to feel playful and not at all like predators. I directed the girls to look into the camera, this is very intentional and they do it most of the time; they are in the power position.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Martel\u2019s intentions, the video was widely viewed as sexist and misogynistic, with many seeing the women as being objectified by the three male artists. (The song\u2019s lyrics were also viewed as \u201crapey,\u201d as Williams said<\/a> in reflection in 2019.) Not helping matters was a second, unrated version of the \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d video in which the women were mostly naked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n