r/Kitchencels: Performative Loneliness and Internet Culture's Last Bastion
TL;DR
- r/Kitchencels represents a "last bastion of internet insanity" and a potential cure for male loneliness by showcasing performative loneliness and deeply depressed men creating food.
- The existence of r/Kitchencels highlights a cultural shift where platforms like X and Reddit are becoming the last spaces for encountering foreign opinions outside algorithmic feeds.
- The subreddit's blend of dark humor, potential fakery, and explicit racism/sexism reflects a broader internet trend of "larping" past internet eras and a disconnect from original cultural context.
- r/Kitchencels offers a portal into a different internet, predating influencers and algorithmic short-form video, where prolonged creative writing projects were more common and fame was not the primary goal.
- The phenomenon of r/Kitchencels, alongside other internet trends, suggests a generational break in cultural transmission, where younger demographics may not understand or replicate the original context of online behaviors.
- The subreddit's content, often depicting anguish and failure, serves as a raw depiction of humanity's darker depths, contrasting with movies that may shy away from fully reckoning with such subject matter.
Deep Dive
The r/Kitchencels subreddit represents a unique intersection of internet culture, male loneliness, and a longing for a bygone era of online interaction. This phenomenon offers a window into the evolving landscape of digital communities, where performative despair and niche content creation persist despite the increasing algorithmic homogenization of online experiences.
The existence of r/Kitchencels highlights a shift in online culture, moving away from the direct, unfiltered expression seen on platforms like 4chan towards more curated, albeit still raw, content on platforms like Reddit and X. This subreddit, a space for incels to share cooking experiences, often juxtaposes deeply melancholic or deranged text with images of food. This duality reflects a broader trend where individuals use online platforms to perform their loneliness and despair, creating a specific aesthetic that blends personal anguish with creative expression. The fascination with r/Kitchencels stems from its perceived authenticity in an age of curated online personas and influencer culture. It evokes a sense of internet "insanity" that is increasingly rare, offering a glimpse into a less commercialized and more creative digital past, before the dominance of algorithmic feeds and the pursuit of virality. This desire for a different internet is also evident in the content creators' own struggles with using platforms like X, acknowledging its utility for discovering niche content while recognizing its problematic nature.
The implications of r/Kitchencels extend to understanding the evolving nature of online communities and their potential to address or amplify societal issues like male loneliness. The subreddit's existence suggests that even in an era of personalized algorithms, spaces for shared, albeit niche, experiences can flourish. However, the content within r/Kitchencels also presents a complex trade-off: while it provides a platform for expressing deep-seated feelings of isolation, it can also be explicitly racist, sexist, and violent. This raises questions about the authenticity of the performance of loneliness versus genuine distress, and the broader societal impact of communities that normalize or even celebrate such sentiments. The creators' discussion also touches on a perceived generational shift, where younger generations may lack the cultural context of previous internet eras, leading to a disconnect between performative actions and genuine understanding. This is further compounded by a perceived break in cultural transmission, possibly exacerbated by events like the COVID-19 pandemic, which has altered how younger demographics engage with and understand online culture compared to previous generations.
Ultimately, r/Kitchencels serves as a potent symbol of the contemporary internet, characterized by its ability to foster unique communities while simultaneously grappling with the darker aspects of online expression and the complex realities of male loneliness. It underscores a collective yearning for a more authentic, less commercialized online experience, even as the nature of that authenticity becomes increasingly debated and difficult to discern.
Action Items
- Audit r/Kitchencels content: Identify 3-5 recurring themes of performative male loneliness for cultural analysis.
- Analyze internet culture shift: Track 5-10 examples of "larping" older internet behaviors to understand generational imitation.
- Measure content authenticity: For 3-5 online communities, compare perceived authenticity against algorithmic feed influence.
- Evaluate platform impact: Assess how 2-3 platforms (e.g., X, Reddit) facilitate or hinder exposure to foreign opinions.
- Document cultural transmission: Create a 1-page summary of how cultural norms have changed from 2018-2021.
Key Quotes
"I mean it's probably they probably have a car for the same reason we haven't covered it which is like it's one of those like background radiation of the internet things that's just been going all year I assume that any sico who's listening to this bonus can uh is either is either an avid consumer of the subreddit or is internet literate enough to know what it is but in case that is not the case define what what kitchen cells is and how you came across it"
Ryan Brodrick explains that the subreddit r/Kitchencels has been a persistent, background element of the internet throughout the year, similar to how it has been overlooked by the podcast. He posits that listeners are likely familiar with it or can infer its nature, but offers to define it for those who are not.
"Kitchen cells is a cooking subreddit for incels kitchen incel it is part of a long tradition of angry men talking about food on the internet one of my favorite tumblrs of all time people getting really mad at food tumblr com which is largely screenshots of the 4chan cooking subreddit ck which we've talked about in the past on this show"
Ryan Brodrick defines r/Kitchencels as a subreddit for incels focused on cooking, linking it to a historical trend of men expressing anger about food online. He draws a parallel to the "food tumblr com" phenomenon, which often featured content from the 4chan cooking subreddit, "ck."
"I can't really tell who's in on the bit and who isn't but I appreciate it equally yeah I love the bit for what it is which is really depressed men and people pretending to be really depressed men making food"
Ryan Brodrick expresses his appreciation for the r/Kitchencels subreddit, acknowledging that he cannot always discern genuine participants from those who are "in on the bit." He values the content regardless, seeing it as a space for genuinely depressed men and those who adopt that persona to create food-related posts.
"I think across the board everyone this year has said some version of like the internet is kind of boring now and once again to loop it back to kitchen cells kitchen cells is insane and not boring although it is getting a little stale now that everyone's kind of figured out the bit"
Ryan Brodrick observes a common sentiment that the internet has become boring, contrasting this with r/Kitchencels, which he finds "insane and not boring." However, he notes that even this subreddit is beginning to feel stale as its underlying "bit" has become more widely understood.
"I think that's a matter of scale I think there's just a lot more happening online all the time now and it's making people really upset and confused and act in strange ways"
Ryan Brodrick suggests that the increasing volume of online activity contributes to people becoming more upset and confused, leading to unusual behaviors. He attributes this shift to the sheer scale of what is constantly occurring on the internet.
"I think we need to go back to 2012 I think that a generation started to come of age then where the screen was always part of their life we were the last generation where there was like the internet was this auxiliary to mass culture to tv like tv was the main thing and we all kind of remember that and that like gives us a different grip"
Ryan Brodrick proposes that the year 2012 marked a generational shift where screens became integral to life for those coming of age. He contrasts this with his own generation, where the internet was secondary to television, which he believes provided a different perspective on culture.
Resources
External Resources
Articles & Papers
- "The Gooning Piece" (Harper's Bazaar) - Mentioned as a piece that gets close to depicting male loneliness with depth.
Websites & Online Resources
- X (formerly Twitter) - Mentioned as a primary source for discovering content like the kitchencel subreddit and other online material.
- 4chan - Referenced as a precursor to the kitchencel subreddit and a historical source of online content.
- Tumblr - Mentioned as a platform that historically hosted angry men talking about food.
- Reddit - Referenced as one of the few remaining platforms where one can encounter foreign opinions not tied to algorithmic interests, alongside X.
- Patreon (patreon.com/panikworld) - Mentioned as the platform for accessing paywalled content.
Other Resources
- Kitchencel subreddit - Discussed as a cooking subreddit for incels, representing a tradition of angry men talking about food online and a potential manifestation of performative male loneliness.
- "Indie Sleaze" - Referenced as a term for a past era of fashion and culture, particularly associated with the early 2010s.
- "Kirk Slop" / "Charlie Kirk Brain Rot" - Mentioned as content found on TikTok, representing a specific type of internet phenomenon.
- "Erowid" - Referenced as a drug repository forum and a source for "trip reports" depicting a demographic of men living "goblin lives."
- "Something Awful" - Mentioned as a historical online forum from which certain cultural phenomena originated.