Vincent Revisited

Zine
Title:	Vincent Revisited
Publisher:	A New Enterprise Publication for The Helpers Network UK
Editor(s):
Date(s):	July 1992
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Vincent Revisited is meta, a character study, by Joy Faulkner.

Other zines in this series:

• Vincent Revisited by Dr. Joy Faulkner (an essay on Vincent Wells' psychology)
• The Child is the Father of the Man by Dr. Joy Faulkner (an essay on Father’s psychology)
• The Man Who Never Was by Dr. Amber James (an essay on Elliot Burch and Devin Wells' psychology)

Fan Comments

While going through some old BATB stuff, I found psychological analysis of Vincent called "Vincent Revisited." Written by Dr. Joy Faulkner and published in July 1992 by the Helper's Network UK, it shed a bit of light for me on the Classic vs. 3rd Season Fan. Joy wrote:

"Kelly [i.e., the man who founded the school of Personal Construct Psychology] taught us that we all hold 'core constructs' of belief, which form the basis of our behaviour and perceptions in life."

Now, as I understand it, T. might hold 'core construct' beliefs that 1) Disneyland is more fun than Disney World, 2) Catherine is the only Beauty for Vincent and they should live happily ever after together, and 3) Catherine never/should never have died.

Likewise, M. might hold core construct beliefs that 1) Disney World is more fun than Disneyland, 2) any Beauty is all right for Vincent as long as she makes him happy, and 3) it's okay that Catherine died.

Dr. Faulkner writes: "Challenging core constructs, as we have found, is generally a profoundly disturbing, even shattering, experience for anyone. And the more they are established, the dearer they are to the heart, the more fiercely the mind will react to protect them from threat. And this, of course, may help to explain the violent split in fandom regarding the third season.

"To many, the love between Vincent and Catherine had become a basic element in their lives; a dream to live by, a therapy, even. To them, one character could not exist without the other and their love became the most important element in the entire series. And to challenge that, to threaten that basic belief, can only result in an extremely violent but natural defensive reaction.

"Unless, of course, it is the series itself or the concept of Vincent which becomes the fan's 'core construct.' Then, Catherine Chandler as a character would be of secondary importance. Vincent could and should exist without her. Keeping the series going and so keeping Vincent with us, would be the overwhelming concern. The supporters of Catherine, even Catherine herself, or anyone else for that matter, who threatened the continuity of the series, would become the enemy."

Hmmm...Well, for me her words shed some light on the dark and confused places.

As for "Vincent Revisited," I have mixed emotions about some of it. Some of it conflicts directly with other things I've learned. I suppose there are many schools of psychology, though. However, for the most part, I find it very enlightening.

We ALL have dark places within our souls, but can you imagine even TRYING to talk about something like that to the one you love with all your heart? No wonder they didn't ever communicate about this. THAT is the real tragedy.

Although in "Vincent Revisited" Dr. Joy Faulkner maintains that Vincent was never a "schizophrenic personality," his "beasting out" most definitely indicates a separation of a sort. Many of us have had a lot of fun with this "separation" with our various views of the dark side of Vincent's personality. Most of us tend to see this "dark side" as not really evil at all, but merely misunderstood...a hurt child who has been pushed aside, caged and ignored. Never recognized. Not the evil twin, but still, a twin. I even have Diana "naming" him in one of my books, much to Vincent's disgust. She calls him "Mikey" after the kid in the old cereal commercial. Remember Mikey? He's the kid who'll eat anything. And so will Vincent's Mikey. He takes in everything that Vincent won't acknowledge about his own dark side, his own repressed desires, his own rage. He takes it in and makes it his own, thus enabling Vincent to feel better about himself. To feel cleaner. (I didn't really do it...Mikey did it). Yet in the end, to be truly human, he must acknowledge his own darkness--recognize it and own it...and control it.

All our versions of the "Dark Beast" (thank you Kim and Lisa) are very different. Interestingly and charmingly at odds with one another, but in the essential ways, they are much the same.

Dr. Faulker states that schizophrenia does not produce symptoms such as what Vincent experiences, though it does produce visual and auditory hallucinations and says because of this she does not see Vincent as having a dual personality. This is, I believe incorrect. Schizophrenia is a completely different disease or syndrome than split personality or multiple personality and is caused by completely different things. Schizophrenia is a MEDICALLY based problem, not completely psychiatric, whereas multiple personality is caused by very specific events which occur within a person's lifetime. Whichever trauma causes this split, or splits is not a medical problem, but a purely psychiatric one. True, schizophrenics "see" visions, hear voices, etc., but these are rarely prophetic or empathic, such as Vincent's are, and this is not a part of his problem with his dual personality.

I have a copy of the analysis you quoted from and have been digging around for it so I can read it again. There were several points that the doctor came up with in her article that were right on the mark. I highly recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on a copy. While I didn't agree with everything she said, there were many things in "Vincent Revisited" that helped me understand the psychological impact both Father and Catherine had on Vincent and his perception of who and, more importantly, *what* he was.