Svankmajer, the wolf and age

Here are a couple of photographs of Jan Svankmajer's wolf (we are told it's a real wolf, and sure enough, it was howling at the moon in an almost cliched way) standing on his balcony. Which brings me to the subject of ageism - one of the "isms" that's still seen as perfectly respectable (time for a revolution?). I find that when you talk about Svankmajer with many people now they take quite a patronising view, "Dear old man" sort of thing. This makes me more than uncomfortable. Why do we expect an older artist to be sweet and to play the Grand Old Man? He may be busy and cranky and not in the mood for visits, just like any of us. He doesn't, I would guess, particularly want to look back and be patted on the head for his wonderfulness in influencing young artists - he's working on this new piece and I expect he'd mostly like people not to bother him. I remember years back talking to someone on a forum about meeting Zdenék Mezl. "Oh," he said, "Why don't you organise a lovely party and invite all his old chums so he can see them again." You WHAAAT? I mean, what, you want a perfect stranger coming along and organising a party on your behalf where they invite what they imagine are all your "chums" to come along. Like a charity event eh? Something lovely, lovely for the poor old man? I was speechless. Why are people so unthinkingly ageist? Older people do not revert to the status of toddlers and if they want a party - well, they can say so, and decide for themselves who comes. Anyway, I could say a lot more on this. In a post soon I'll tell you what a psychoanalyst I met said on the subject of age - it was truly unbelievable and did make me wonder if she's in the right profession (or should specialise only in people below the age of thirty). But for now, enjoy the wolf. Like it, sometimes I feel I should howl at the moon.