An Artist's Development and Arc

As an audience we must let an artist develop, grow, and change. Why do we only want actors  to stay in the same genre for an entire career; we complain that they are doing the same old schtick, but if they do something different then the complaint is that they should stick to what they know. 

We have backed artists into a Catch 22 of trying to look the same age for twenty to thirty years, playing the same role with the same problems over and over.  There was a group of people that only wanted Peter Sellers to be Inspector Clouseau, Adam Sandler to be Happy Gilmore,  or Tom Cruise to be Maverick. It's sad, these individuals all talented in different ways and with an ability to portray different characters. Yet they are only relegated to what people remember them to be. And it seems that it goes like that for artists of all walks of life. 

If you want to be a real fan to an artist; please, let them grow!