Sociedade de risco e abjeção no grunge: Alice in Chains e a estética da ansiedade = Risk society and abjection in grunge: Alice in Chains and the aesthetics of anxiety

Abstract

The risk society, as conceptualized by sociologists such as Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, and characterized by a series of radical social, political, technological and economic transformations since the 1980s, that has certainly had an influence on the cultural field. Visible above all in the creative youth strata - visual artists, fashion designers, musicians, etc. - the generational anxiety they share becomes (albeit unconsciously) the theme of their productions. A kind of ethos, similar to the one seen in the 1970s with the punk movement, in this work we will try to think about grunge through its aesthetics, styles and sounds - from this analytical perspective. Taking the band Alice in Chains as a case study, in a diachronic section that extends from 1987 to 1996, we will discuss their lyrics, performances and the creation of a visual language in which concepts such as abjection and memento-mori are articulated.