A moment of movie dissonance I highly value is the ever so successful Star Wars movies. My favorite movie of these is Empire Strikes Back. Some of the best writing and acting in those movies is displayed there, as well as some really heart wrenching moments that provide more viewer experience than any of the visual treats in all the other movies. Experience is Key.
Cognitive dissonance is basically when we realize something is not how we initially thought and is independent of our emotional ties to the subject. Dissonance can cause mental anguish, and that does depend on how strongly we were attached emotionally to our original thought pattern. One example is a religious sect that believes the world will end tonight at 12am. Well, if it so happens that the world doesn't end it will cause a cognitive dissonance among the members of that religion. If a person sold all their possessions and spent all the resultant money on fun activities right before the night he would likely suffer extreme anguish, whereas a person who stayed calm and continued with normal life before the 'end' would still have that dissonance but not suffer nearly as much as the other one I mentioned.
A shadow persona is, in my opinion, the dark side of yourself you don't like to admit exists. In a world where pizza was considered an indulgence and not something an elite person would eat someone could easily have a pizza loving shadow. He'll sneak off and order pizza in the middle of the night wearing a dark cloak and perhaps even a mask to conceal his identity. Meet up with the pizza delivery scum who he has learned to hate as much as he loves and pays in cash so there's no paper trail... devouring in the shadowy night.
In this great story of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, Luke is raised by his mother's cousins. He doesn't actually know much about his father other than the fact that he was destroyed by Darth Vader. Luke, having access to the force, starts training in order to confront his father's killer and therein he was drawn into a cave strong in the dark side. It is interesting looking back at the story, because it is so obvious to me now that he confronts his shadow which was brought out by the dark side instead of an actual evil entity. Well, in the cave he meets what he thinks is Darth Vader, who he instigates combat with and overpowers enough to slice his head off. In this moment, Luke experiences a strong cognitive dissonance when he realizes that the person wearing that black suit was actually his own twin image. That experience warned him about the possible future he could face if he chose poorly. Meeting himself guised as his worst fear is the strongest example of both confronting a shadow and experiencing cognitive dissonance I can think of. In this instance, Luke experiences some discomfort at the unsettling experience.
Further into the movie, Luke confronts the real Darth Vader in a battle that results in him losing his hand and lightsaber as well as stuck in jeopardy between succumbing to Darth Vader or committing suicide by falling down to his death. Luke remains defiant to Darth Vader, and in this moment, Darth Vader reveals that he is the father of Luke. (and again in the 3rd movie that Leia is his sister: 3rd time's the charm as it doesn't phase him that time) Luke screams in mental anguish at this revelation which resulted in a massive cognitive dissonance moment. His archenemy, the supposed destroyer of any hope he had at a relationship with his father was his father himself. The person he had inwardly longed for and wanted to be loved by was the very person who was rumored to have destroyed him. Luke eventually chose to fall and ended up being saved by Darth Vader (this part is in the book, but only told visually as happenstance in the movie)who also retrieved Luke's original lightsaber, the one that had belonged to Anakin long ago. He is rescued by his friends and he communicates later on to Darth Vader and slowly heals from the experience. He receives a robotic hand which serves as a reminder to him that his shadow, that Darth Vader, can become just as alive in himself as it did his father.
This is why Star Wars IV, V, and VI were successful movies and I, II, and III were total flops. Where did Lucas put all that awesome creativity? Their focus seemed to be on visual effects which were not even worth comparing to the original trilogy's storytelling. Ugh, off topic again... I am a symphonic person primarily, so it becomes very difficult sometimes to arrange a linear presentation of concepts such as this paper when I am thinking about everything at once!
