Princess

Hello Everyone,

In Hebrew, Sarah means “princess.” I thought about this on Saturday afternoon when a volunteer handed me my packet for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Orlando, Florida. On my mint green race bib along with my number were the words, “Princess Sarah.” I wanted to wave it vigorously in the volunteer’s face and say, “Don’t you know this is redundant?” I refrained.

My friend Lis (hereafter referred to as Princess Lis) and I have been training for this half marathon since the beginning of the term. I suppose most of the normal reasons people run long races applied to me as well. I wanted a way to stay in shape without having to frequent the repugnant SCAD gym. I wanted a challenge. But mostly I want to be able to brag to my hypothetical grandchildren that I ran through Disney World. So that’s how Princess Lis and I found ourselves driving to Florida on Saturday and getting up at 3:30 on Sunday morning so we could get to our corral in time to start.

Everything about the experience was overwhelming. Aside from the fact that 13,000 other people were running ahead, beside and behind me, was the fact that many of them (including men) were wearing tiaras, tutus and dresses in the style of their favorite Disney Princess. (Incidentally, I have never seen a princess actually wearing a tutu, but I didn’t want to be a party pooper so again I held my tongue.) Perhaps the strangest part of the race was simply the location. A while ago, I wrote about how surreal Savannah is, but I think Disney World takes the cake. It is a place where opposites exist side by side obliviously: childlike wonder and imagination are married to blatant capitalism.

It really is its own world, a bizarre Bermuda Triangle of a place, but which people flock to in droves. This is a place where the real is designed to look fake. There is a network of highways complete with onramps and overpasses, but the road signs are all painted in bright colors. There is a fire station, but its sign is decorated in dalmatian spots. This is the place of perpetual dress up, and even the medals we were handed at the finish line were attached with velcro. (I suppose this was so that they could adorn even those runners who ran all 13.1 miles wearing gigantic Goofy heads.) Rather than making movies come to life, Disney World seems to be about making real life enter into the movies; I felt like a cartoon. I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say that Disney World is a microcosm of the United States, but there is a reason why it was conceived here and why it is so strongly associated with our culture.

On Sunday morning, Princess Lis and I, along with the throngs of other runners, were herded to our corrals where we would begin the race. For about twenty minutes, we proceeded down a circuitous, behind-the-scenes route. Floodlights allowed us to see the broken down Disney vehicles lying in the jungle-like flora on the side of the roads. If I hadn’t been so sleepy and overwhelmed, I would have been terrified. Since the sun hadn’t risen yet and we were wearing our short sleeved running outfits, we quickly became numb. The good side of all this, though, was that once the fireworks went off to announce the start of the race, the distance ahead of me seemed much more bearable. I regained feeling in my extremities at mile two, which is also about when the sun came up and things became significantly less creepy.

Over the course of the race, I had many occasions to contemplate princess-dom. Disney has a way of associating unrelated or even illogical things and making people believe they go together. For example, on my race bib, in addition to my royal moniker, were the words, “Love Always Finds a Way,” “Trust,” “Dream Big,” and “Fairytales Come True.” I’m pretty sure that most princesses in history were less concerned with finding a way through love [a way to what, if I might ask?] and were more concerned about marrying for political advantage and then producing an appropriate number of male progeny. It’s stunning how subtly Disney convinces people worldwide of the main principle of democracy -- the importance of the individual -- by using a monarchical model.

When we weren’t running through the Magic Kingdom or being waved at by various characters, there were signs along the side of the road for us to read as we went by. One said, “Why did Snow White eat the apple?” and then subsequent signs told of the benefits of a regular apple intake. I’m pretty sure that the reason she ate the apple had more to do with the trickery of her stepmother, not because it could help her lose weight. And beneficial though Sleeping Beauty’s advantages to a good night’s rest were, I’m pretty sure that she would have opted for a single night’s rest if she’d had her way.

I began to wonder if I was a Disney World Scrooge. “Just suspend your disbelief,” I tried to tell myself. This place isn’t meant to be taken seriously and logically. Plus, I’m currently getting two graduate degrees that focus on helping people enter into pretenses of various sorts. How is this ultimately any different? It did feel different, though, and I’m still not sure exactly why.

There were moments, however, when I found myself actually getting into the spirit of the event. A few of the remixes of the classic Disney songs were surprisingly energizing as was the random gospel choir singing in full force right before we crossed the finish line. I must also admit that I was vaguely encouraged when Jack Sparrow paused from sparring with his pirate mates and gave me a high five.

I’m not about to go and buy a tiara and I haven’t been convinced of the merits of the color pink, but I am glad we went. It was highly entertaining and it was a good challenge. Just because I don’t always buy into the extended pretense that is Disney World doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. Plenty of people were achieving noble goals and I should never make light of that. Plenty of people were genuinely thrilled to see Tarzan or Belle or Tweedledee, and there is no reason to think less of them. Plus, it’s awfully hard to roll your eyes while you’re running.

Have a good week,
Princess Sarah

PS: This will be a full week for me. I got back to Savannah on Sunday afternoon and have been working on my three final projects that are due tomorrow and Thursday. I will then move out of my apartment and fly to France on Friday, where I will be spending the spring quarter. I’ll write more about that when I get there. Some of you have asked for my mailing address there. If you are interested, let me know and I can email it to you.