Ahhhh yes I have been wanting a gif set about Cameron and her aggressively ‘bad’ diet! The way she consistently eats seemingly nothing but junk food isn’t random or accidental; it’s there for a reason, and both the Dr. Pepper and Cheez-Its comment and the premise of The Space Bike Chronicles are direct references to that. (Which, yes, I’ve been bitching and moaning a lot about the writers, but I appreciate the pay off there.)
ANYWAYS. Here’s my ~personal list~ of some of the more interesting ways the show uses Cameron’s diet to develop her character, for any writing/tv/film geeks who might be out there:
Gender/expression: Cameron is not delicate or precious about food or appetite; she unself-consciously (literally) stuffs her face with junk food, fast food, and candy. She also doesn’t make self-conscious/-deprecating comments about her eating habits or body; she doesn’t meet or pretend to meet societal expectations around womens’ relationships to food. (Fun parallel from a completely different show/genre: Leslie “Ugh, I hate salad” Knope of Parks and Recreation!)
Class: I feel like the writers purposely kept Cameron’s class kind of ambiguous and that it was an unfortunate miscalculation on their part, but junk and fast food are associated with the kind of food insecurity experienced by the working class and poor, and also broke young people. Cameron is definitely a broke (former) college student, from what I read as a sort of ‘upper working’/lower middle class household.
Family/support system: this is related to class and resources – family is a kind of resource, and the care (via both food/nutrition and other means) they provide is an advantage that people with stable, functional families often don’t realize they have – Cameron doesn’t really have a home, and she apparently doesn’t have a family that worries about how she’s eating. There isn’t anybody who makes balanced meals for Cameron on the weekends or even on holidays, and she doesn’t make them for herself, she eats what’s cheap and readily available, even though it’s not good for her. (In-show contrast: we see Donna cooking for Gordon and the girls. Also, her parents are still involved in her life.)
Relationships: Years ago I read a bunch of critical essays about My So-Called Life that repeatedly brought up how much food there is in the show, and how ‘real’/non-junk food and meal times signify real love and care, and that sandwiches, takeout and leftovers are ‘get-by’ food, and that they symbolize relationships that aren’t functionally nurturing. I don’t think this is limited to MSCL, or, tl;dr, there is a reason that you never see Admiral Eyebrows cook for Cameron or even take her to get ‘real’ food. Awkwardly, weirdly dismissively thrown sandwiches are all dude really has to offer. And Cameron is always really hungry so she always accepts his junk food. (ALSO HOLY FRICK THOSE MSCL ESSAYS from 1 9 9 7 ARE STILL AVAILABLE! I LOVE THE INTERNET, TY CAMERON, DONNA AND GORDON FOR INVENTING IT!!!)
So, when Cameron tells Ryan, “You can’t live off Dr. Pepper and Cheez-Its forever – believe me, I’ve tried” she means it literally. But she’s also telling him that his life on the run, without a home or meaningful, non-garbage relationships, isn’t really sustainable. Because it isn’t, and she knows it from experience, and the viewer knows she knows it.
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