We Like Crying Now: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
officially opens July 2016, but it
has preview performances beginning June 7th

In a tweet on May 27th, J.K. Rowling revealed that the two-part play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will make audiences cry.

My humble request to fans everywhere: please stop glorifying "the feels."

I find the current fandom obsession with getting their hearts wrenched frustrating. It has created a demand for Doctor Who episodes driven to create sad emotions instead of vivifying stories. BBC's Sherlock has gone the same way. Fandoms actually have arguments on Tumbler about who is the saddest!

Harry Potter is great entertainment. In Harry Potter we felt more than just sadness; we experienced joy, happiness, anger, frustration, fear, hope, and disappointment.

Obviously, there are deeply sad parts, and Rowling is absolutely right: if we aren't feeling, the writer isn't doing their job efficiently.

https://twitter.com/jk_rowling 

However, these emotions did not cause our deep satisfaction at the resolution--the story did. Even with these emotions present, the writer still might not be doing their job right.

I, for one, want a good story driven by characters and situations, not the desire to make me cry.

Good stories inspire us to empathize with the characters, but there are plenty of bad stories that do the same thing (e.g. Twilight).

Rowling is a great writer, so when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is released, I am sure it will be satisfactory. But, fans, please stop calling for intense "feels" because you are creating a demand for cart-drawn horses.