“I hate those blurred lines / I know you want it” croon the lyrics, but of course Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, the song’s creators, didn’t want the $7.4 million judgement awarded to the Marvin Gaye estate for plagiarizing Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.” The decision, by a jury in a Los Angeles U. S. District Court, is already being appealed.
While the ultimate judicial result is probably years away, it does give us the opportunity to turn put it in context.
First, here is a mashup, alternating “Blurred Lines” with Gaye’s song.
Then, there’s the feminist backlash.
It has found its highest form in parody, directed both at the male gaze and Robin Thicke’s smug “I so deserve it” attitude. The best of these parodies, hilariously spot-on and slickly produced, is “Defined Lines,” by Adelaide Dunn, Olivia Lubbock and Zoe Ellwood. It’s even more addictive than the original video.
And, if you’ve been living under a rock, here is that original “Blurred Lines” video, uncensored and NSFW, directed by Diane Martel.
