Let Them Eat Cake

In 2004, the Texas state legislature passed a bill completely banning all junk food in its schools, a wide-reaching act that also effectively outlawed parents sending cupcakes to school for classroom birthday parties, and stopped PTA fundraisers from selling cupcakes, leading to the loudly-debated “Texas Cupcake Controversy.” Lisa Kaselak's student film Let Them Eat Cake vaguely follows this particular chapter in the longtime struggle between the government and schools over what children are eating—a battle involving big snack food and soft drink companies, whose vending-machine sales often provide crucial discretionary income for cash-strapped schools. Combining interviews with health experts, school officials, parents, and elementary to high school age students, the film basically establishes that a) if you make junk food available to kids, they will undoubtedly buy and eat it, and b) the government will always be a regulatory force, from USDA standards to advertising/marketing rules. Unfortunately, it's not clear who the intended audience is here. Students would not only be lost in the meandering recreation of the Cupcake Controversy but probably feel even more pro-vending machine after seeing kids gleefully eating their junk food meals and talking about how much they love them (says one girl, “We're preteens, almost adults, and they might take away pizza next!”). Parents on the other hand will be left wondering what the point is: should they embrace governmental regulation of their kids' diets because all else has failed, or feel empowered by the freedom to give their children all the Big Macs they desire? While this might be of interest for regional schools and libraries, it's value elsewhere is questionable. A better choice for a student audience would be Junk Food Wars (VL-3/06). Aud: E, I, J, H, P. (E. Gieschen)