Hurt-Comfort in "Beauty and the Beast"

Meta
Title:	Hurt-Comfort in "Beauty and the Beast"
Creator:	Elaine Landman
Date(s):	September 1994
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast
Topic:
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Hurt-Comfort in "Beauty and the Beast" is a 1994 Beauty and the Beast essay by Elaine Landman.

It was printed in Soulmates - A Neverending Dream #3.

For some context, see Timeline of Hurt/Comfort Meta.

Series

It is part of a series, a regular column, by Landman called "One Fan's View."

• The Dual Nature or Dark Side of Vincent
• Vincent's Contradictions and Obstacles, or Just Exactly When Will We See That Lake, Vincent?
• Hurt-Comfort in "Beauty and the Beast"
• Once You Are Real...
• Parallels and Contrasts in "Beauty and the Beast"
• possibly an additional three more

Some Topics Discussed

• Beauty and the Beast (TV)
• the hurt/comfort trope, levels and kinds
• when there is too much hurt and not enough comfort
• the purpose of literary pain
• Catherine Chandler's role

Excerpts

Hurt-comfort is a topic frequently discussed at conventions and applied to a variety of television shows but if the term had never before been used, it would have been invented for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Just as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is a love story without precedent or parallel, it is also the king of hurt-comfort.

The tunnel community itself is a parable about and tribute to hurt-comfort. After the loss of his career, his home, and his wife, Father, a healer, finds redemption with a new "family" and discovers a renewed sense of purpose in his life. With Grace's help, and in conjunction with the other early founders of the tunnel world, Jacob Walls creates a place of safety, sanctuary, and solace for those in despair, crushed by the cruelty of the world above.

The relationship between Vincent and Catherine is one that Is based on real emotional equality. They are both permitted to be alternatively strong and vulnerable, stable and in crisis, needy and nurturing. Vincent cries more than any other male in television history, and friend of mine once referred to Catherine as the queen of angst. Despite the amount of suffering this couple has endured, the first two seasons were always about overcoming enormous obstacles and persevering against all odds. Vincent and Catherine represent the touchstone for the quintessential message of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST . . . the transforming and healing power "of love and hope."

At this point, I'd like to discuss exactly what I mean by hurt-comfort, and why many of us find it so appealing. (Where would fanzines be without it?) I don't think that those of us who are fascinated by seeing beloved characters in pain are secretly suppressing sado-masochistic tendencies. On the contrary, I often find it extremely difficult to watch or read about anyone's pain, even a fictional character.

But there are different kinds of pain: physical, emotional, and spiritual, and from a dramatic standpoint, they can all serve a valid, even necessary purpose. Let's face it. consistently mellow, happy characters with little or no internal conflicts or external pressures are simply not terribly interesting. However, the way that the characters respond to their pain and deal with it (or not) can teach us valuable coping mechanisms as yell as other lessons about things like courage and ethics.

For me, physical pain is not only the least satisfying of the three, it is often a turnoff, I am not a big fan of gratuitous violence. Nevertheless, if put In the proper context, and if there is a sufficiently worthwhile pay-off, even physical agony can have validity.

For example, in NO WAY DOWN (a favorite of Ron Perlman's) the torture inflicted is obviously physical, but I suspect that the humiliation of being chained like an animal on display, the taunting of the women, and the feelings of helplessness and loss of freedom would be far more devastating to Vincent. After all that torment, I wanted to see a lot more comfort than I got from this episode. (I know of at least one fanzine story that began at the end of NO WAY DOWN, presumably out of the need to provide a more fulfilling conclusion.)

The pilot, which set the tone for the entire series, is a text-book case of hurt-comfort because it deftly incorporates the dynamics of all three kinds of pain.

Catherine is physically disfigured in a vicious attack. She's emotionally ravaged by what has happened, alone and frightened in unfamiliar surroundings. Spiritually, she's in a state of crisis because her sense of identity is understandably altered by her appearance, as well as the fear that she lacks the strength to cope with this nightmarish reality, (In Vincent's dream in REMEMBER LOVE, Catherine never fully recovered, and without Vincent's healing touch, she had "lost her spirit.")

It is the pilot that also gave us the bond. Unquestionably, the idea of the bond is hardly a new concept, even in series television, but I can't think of any instance where it has been used more effectively, especially as a hurt-comfort device. "I know what she's thinking, I can feel uhat she's feeling, when she's frightened, or happy ... or sad."

From the very beginning, fanzine writers were quick to latch onto the powerful implications concerning the unique nature and intimacy of this particular bond, What would be more wonderful than to have a lover who knows when we're sad and arrives at just the right moment to literally provide a shoulder to lean on and a tender soul-nurturing embrace?

It Is the bond that enables Vincent to eense when Catherine is in danger. Without this aspect of the bond, Vincent's rescues would be implausible at best. The rescues, aside from their intrinsically exciting and entertaining qualities, help to develop and progress the relationship between Vincent and Catherine.

This type of hurt-comfort, the circumstances in which it's presented, and how the characters are affected by it, all help to determine the strength, maturity, nobility, and integrity of the hero and/or heroine, and in doing so, to graphically demonstrate the depth of their love. Dramatically speaking, it's much easier to "see" their love at times of adversity and the ensuing comfort. It is only because Catherine is wounded, in BEAST WITHIN that we hear these heartbreaking lines from Vincent. "Don't die, Catherine. If you die, so do I." In my opinion, that quote sums up the very essence of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

More often than not, the greater the hurt, the more cathartic and life-affirming the comfort can be. However, if a character is given more pain than he can realistically be expected to endure, the story line can rapidly become mawkish and ludicrous. The character, devoid of any genuine emotion, is therefore trivialized.

At last May's MediaWest, a midwest multi-media convention, there was a general hurt-comfort panel. One of the panelists said that for her, the primary reason for the hurt is in order to have the comfort. She also said that hurt without comfort is trashing the character. I couldn't agree more, and after the first forty-four episodes of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, I'm convinced that for Vincent, there could be no comfort without Catherine. Vincent once told Catharine, "A life without you would be unbearable." As usual, Vincent was right.

Fan Comments

As soon as I read the title of Elaine's article, I figured there would be several points which would hold my interest. Hurt comfort themes do surface frequently in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and 'zine authors have built grand foundations upon this universal human condition. It flows naturally when two people cannot claim the right to happiness in a more typical relationship. Vincent and Catherine needed each other's love and nurturing, but they were forced by circumstances to halt in their platonic tracks. Taking full advantage of the hurtful instances, they jumped eagerly into the comfort stage; justified as it was to embrace only after great danger or threat.

I'd always thought it was their "afterglow" after the climax — unfortunately for them, the climax was dramatic, violent and generally frightening. If they knew that physical loving was impossible for them they had to engineer an alternative avenue for at least the cuddling to take place. Cuddling and embraces seemed inappropriate far the sake of expressing affection, so they ended up needing a reason. All the terrible and harmful events served them in place of loving. No wonder Catherine had subconsciously acted "recklessly."

We all know that it usually takes something drastic before we make that simple step of giving love, affection or appreciation. Once we are literally shaken up we make the move, say a word, offer a token. Love should need such a kick-in-the-pants catalyst. For the million excuses, we remain in a safe place. Only after a bolt of reality, do we plunge in with action. Until we learn to offer freely, just for the pleasure and rightness of it, we'll continue to need the outside push.

Struggling as they are in their friendship, Vincent and Catherine felt justified in their embraces — but the price is high -- blood. They achieve a level of intimacy only to let it slip away after the danger is gone. Instead of keeping the same level of emotional and physical expression, they allow it to drop to pre-harm levels. I've always felt the show had its biggest flaw in that, however, that is often the true course of relationships. The fear and guilt set in and force us to resume the ways of before. There is too much pressure to maintain the newer level of intimacy. Basically it's a factor of human insecurity.

I find hurt-comfort stories to be among my favorite. There is a depth of emotion and instinct revealed in these stories that I see as compelling. I insist that the outcome be positive; there is no appeal to a hurt-comfort story where the comfort is contrived or forced. Comfort, true and genuine comfort is absolutely a must for me. I can enjoy an extreme "hurt" (emotional, physical, spiritual, etc.) but the comfort must be something that the character would find comforting, find, as a reader or writer, I need that comfort to be logical according to the general outline of the story.

Hurt-comfort-realization is an even better story. Once the hurt sets the stage for comfort, then the actions and thoughts and emotions which surface within the comfort become the vehicle for realizing a freer, deeper level of emotional status. In comforting each other, Vincent and Catherine were made aware of love.

Sometimes, there can be comfort within hurt. Mourning can only be cleansing if it is allowed a full course. So, in effect, there is a measure of comfort directly because of hurt, during hurt. To move too quickly out of the hurt is to actually deny or dampen comfort. To be effective, comfort must Include enough foundation and understanding — comfort must be tailored to the hurt.

Since the differences and difficulties between Vincent and Catherine are so monumental, I think that stories need to present a rather serious hurt scenario, and in keeping with that, the comfort needs to be spectacular. Well, in the t.v. episodes, the hurt was often pretty severe, but the comfort was never complete nor committed enough. The writers know they have no network censors, script-writers, sponsors, and so on to fuss with; they are free to write comfort the way it was meant to be. When I expect comfort, I want to see COMFORT.

C*O*M*F*O*R*T* the goal here.