The Roar of the MGM Lion

I grew up hearing the roar of the MGM lion, Jackie, on the silver screen because my father, James A. FitzPatrick, was under contract to MGM for 25 years and produced over 200 travelogue shorts now seen on the Turner Channel or YouTube.

The survival of MGM's iconic trademark is under threat of extinction because the gobble-up-everything Amazon monolith is buying MGM's library, which will add more than 4,000 movie titles and 17,000 shows to Amazon Prime. James Bond and Rocky would put a quick end to this blasphemy except they are in on the deal.

I imagine Jackie being replaced by Jeff Bezos dressed as Tarzan, also part of the deal, snarling down at us from a ring of Amazon Prime trademark arrows as he proclaims his right to the world and everything in it.

The trademark motto Ars Gratia Artis will be revised as it expresses the philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only 'true' art, is divorced from any didactic, moral, political, or utilitarian function. The new motto will be Art for Art's Sake Be Damned.