<\/p>\n
Jennifer Lopez, Fat Joe, and Diane Martel, January 2005 (KMazur\/WireImage)<\/p>\n
The music video director Diane Martel<\/a> died on Thursday, September 18, in New York, her family told Rolling Stone<\/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<\/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 \u201cI wanted to do a nude video and turned the job down when they said we couldn\u2019t,\u201d Martel said. \u201cThey came back agreeing to do the nude one if I would do a clothed version. Lisa Kati, who is a sick stylist and who has an amazing web series called \u2018LisaTV,\u2019<\/a> made the see-through clothes. I wanted stacked shoes, so she stacked ugly nurse shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n Ratajkowski later said<\/a> that Robin Thicke sexually harassed and assaulted her on the \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d set. Martel confirmed<\/a> Ratajkowski\u2019s account of Thicke\u2019s behavior and claimed to have called out the singer on the set.<\/p>\n Martel\u2019s video for Miley Cyrus\u2019 \u201cWe Can\u2019t Stop\u201d video was not as controversial as the \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d clip, but it was still attention-grabbing and sexually provocative. \u201cMiley and I wanted to make a trippy, fucked-up video that was like a giant selfie,\u201d Martel explained. \u201cShe and I loved the idea of her being over the top. Her \u2018modeling\u2019 is crazy, like what the fuck is she doing in this video? Her teddy bear dancing, she\u2019s kissing her doll, she\u2019s riding a horrible bike with her butt out. I don\u2019t see another female pop star getting into a girl fight in her video. This video is fucked up and fun. It\u2019s like a long Vine.\u201d<\/p>\n With 2013 in ther rearview mirror, Martel continued to direct videos with her usual regularity. She helmed Charli XCX\u2019s \u201cAfter the Afterparty<\/a>,\u201d the 1975\u2019s \u201cGive Yourself a Try<\/a>,\u201d and more. One of the final videos her lifetime, for Ciara\u2019s \u201cEcstasy<\/a>,\u201d was released in April.<\/p>\n Originally Appeared on Pitchfork<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n