Winterfest Interview with Catherine Edwards
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Winterfest Interview with Catherine Edwards |
| Interviewer: | Winterfest |
| Interviewee: | Catherine Edwards |
| Date(s): | 2017 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Beauty and the Beast |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In 2017, Catherine Edwards was interviewed for Winterfest.
See Winterfest Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
When did you first become aware that B&B had a fandom?
My husband came into work and brought me a surprise—he had bought us tickets to a local Creation Convention. When I went to the convention, I saw copies of Once Upon A Time...in New York [sic] (a letterzine about Beauty and the Beast printed by Jeanie Cloud). I realized that there were other fans out there, and wrote to the OUT...IN. When my letter was published, I was contacted by another local fan who became one of my best friends in the whole world, Denise Spear! Incidentally, B&B was ALSO responsible for connecting me to my other bestie — Lynette Combs. Were it not for B&B, I would not have met my best friends in the world!
Why did you decide to write fanfic?
I was already be writing Vincent and Catherine stories — my first stories were just numbered — no titles, yet! — because I didn’t know there was anyone in the world who’d want to read them! I wrote them because I wanted more Catherine and Vincent, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened when the shows went off. I wanted some lightness in their relationship, and I wanted to talk/communicate with other fans who wanted to talk (and talk and TALK) about the show and about Catherine and Vincent.
What character(s) do you enjoy writing about the most?
I think anyone who has read any of my stories know that I’m particularly fond of Pascal. I found his character to be noble and brave. But while I quite a fan of the practical pipemaster, I also love Vincent and Catherine and their special relationship. I felt like the show had plenty of angst — I wanted to show lightness and warmth and fun and sexiness and sweetness. I may be the only B&B author who never had Vincent “beast out,” unless you count the time he and Mouse faced off when Catherine went into labor in “Great Expectations.”
What do you wish they had explored (or explore more) in the series?
While I longed for Catherine and Vincent to be able to explore their relationship more physically, I believe I am glad that the show was not on today, where a large portion of the show would surely focus on the sexual aspects of their relationship, and less on the emotional aspects. We used to live for a week on one look or one sigh, knowing what was in their hearts and wish them everything.
In the original Beauty and the Beast, the fairytale “ended” when Beauty realized that she loved the Beast. He is transformed, leaving them—and us—to anticipate all the joy they will soon have as they begin their lives together.
Fanfiction usually arises from longings fans have to see things that the show did not provide. As a fandom, we’ve run the gamut from angst to sweetness, chasteness to ribaldry. Although I’d love to have seen them share a real kiss or wake up tangled together in the light of Vincent’s stained-glass window, I think we did just fine on our own.
What aspect of the series do you like least?
Ron Koslow and his horrid, misogynistic vision of how Catherine and Vincent and their story ended. Until it aired, no other show on television had shown the torture of a pregnant woman, followed closely by the murder of said woman once the baby had been surgically removed from her. What a disappointing ending to such an epic love story, and what a terrible disappointment it was for all of us who had been waiting and hoping for a happy ending. We had been promised a fairy tale, but we were given a horrible, awful ending instead. All these years later, I still cannot think of any reason for Koslow to do that to us except as an act of spite. It separated our fandom and caused friends to argue and leave the fandom. (I wish these interview questions were not in this order — I don’t want to end on a negative note.)