THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

ARS GRATIA ARTIS | 2008-04-20

MGM's slogan means "art for art's sake."

First lesson, if you want to find out what someone REALLY stands for, find the opposite of the line they repeat most. If any employee of MGM had come in with a proposal that a movie be produced entirely "for arts sake," the question would not be, "Will he be fired?" The only debate would be over whether they would open the door before they kicked him out of it.

I just saw that slogan again at the beginning of a Thin Man movie from the 1930s. The Thin Man, Nick Charles, is ALWAYS drunk. He always has a drink in his hand. A decade or so previously the big movies were attacks on saloons, showing men becoming drunks and ruining their wives and kiddies.

If you don't like the Tide of Public Opinion, just wait a while. Another one will come along.