We’ve seen our fair share of parody remakes in our time but this is hands down the cleverest of all. ‘Defined Lines’, created by a group Auckland University law students, is a feminist take on Robin Thicke’s hit song ‘Blurred Lines’, a song that has been accused of completely degrading women.
The three girls who feature in the video, Olivia Lubbock, Zoe Ellwood and Adelaide Dunn also know as the, ‘Law Revue girls’, stated that the video was “a bit of fun” with a positive message.
In the clip the three (fully dressed) ladies sing about sexism as scantily clad men surround them, much like the original video. However YouTube removed the video after having it flagged as containing ‘inappropriate content’.
In March the video for Thicke’s successful single aired with three topless models, and was taken down from YouTube momentarily for violating its terms. The music video sparked outrage and claims were made that the song sexually objectified women, ‘blurring the lines’ between rape and consensual sex.
‘Defined Lines’ issues a warning that ‘No Men Were Harmed In The Making Of This Video’ and clever lyrics include:
So we can f*ck this man’s world,
With all its bullsh*t,
Girls don’t deserve it.
We ain’t good girls:
We are scholastic,
Smart and sarcastic,
Not f*cking plastic.
YouTube have since restored the parody video and in just three day the girls have almost 500,000 hits.
Is this a case of sexual double standards? Of course it is.
