Cognitive Dissonance in Pop Culture
April 12, 2023
Breaking Bad: Walter White’s Decision about Krazy-8
In the TV Show, Breaking Bad, there are many different examples of cognitive dissonance, where characters have to find different ways to cope with the internal struggle of two ideas or things not coinciding. The example that I want to focus on and discuss is Walter White’s cognitive dissonance around killing a person. In the third episode of the first season, the main character, Walter White, and his partner, Jesse Pinkman, find themselves in a tough situation. After being held at gunpoint in their RV, Walt and Jesse manage to escape through creating an explosion of chemicals, killing one of their captors, and injuring the other. This other man’s name is Krazy-8. When Krazy-8 regains consciousness, he finds that he’s a prisoner in a basement, with a bike lock chained around his neck. Walt and Jesse flip a coin to decide who has to “deal with” Krazy-8, since him staying alive is too big of a threat to them both. Of course, Walt’s luck runs out when the coin toss says he has to kill Krazy-8. Walt struggles with this concept of killing someone, since it's morally wrong. Everytime Walt goes down to attempt it, he gives up. Even though Krazy-8 is his prisoner, Walt gives Krazy-8 sandwiches, water, toilet paper, and even beer out of his guilt. Further along, Walt is bringing him another sandwich when he suddenly passes out when walking down the stairs, dropping and smashing a ceramic plate Emilio. Unbeknownst to Walt, Krazy-8 grabs one of the broken pieces, hiding it. Walt wakes up, and has an honest conversation with his prisoner, explaining how he’s “looking for a reason not to kill him.” Walt and Krazy-8 discuss their backgrounds, finding connections between their stories. This convinces Walt to go grab the keys to unlock the bike lock. However, when Walt is throwing away the broken plate pieces and making another sandwich, he realizes something is wrong. Frantically, he pulls out the pieces, lining them up. There is a piece missing. And the only explanation of its disappearance is Krazy-8. So, with that, Walt’s mind was made up- deciding to kill Krazy-8 because of his lies.
This entire situation is built up over the entirety of the third episode, where Walt doesn’t know what to do. On one hand, Walt knows killing is wrong. He has never killed anyone before. We see Walt making a sort of pros and cons list, grappling with the idea of taking a person’s life. There are a lot more things listed under the “let him live” side, but Walt is still concerned. He knows Krazy-8 is a dangerous man. As a drug dealer, he has connections that could wind up being even more of a danger. Plus, Jesse told Krazy-8 Walt’s name, which means that Walt’s entire family is now in danger as well. As with any example of cognitive dissonance, there are only so many ways that the discomfort and dissonance can be solved. When Walt realizes Krazy-8 has been lying, and his true intention is on hurting him, Walt rationalizes his decision to kill him. He found a strong enough reason to finally do it. This entire episode of Walt and his decision making process is an excellent example of cognitive dissonance.
The Truman Show: Truman’s Realization to Strange Events
The Truman Show is a film that, I feel, has a strong focus and theme of cognitive dissonance throughout the entirety of the movie. As viewers, we get to watch and see the protagonist, Truman Burbank, come to the realization throughout the movie that his world is fake. Throughout the movie, there are different times that cause Truman confusion, such as when a light falls on him from the sky, his father comes back from the dead, and even when an elevator is missing, replaced by crew members lounging on couches backstage. Through these experiences, and many more, Truman becomes more and more aware of the truth that his entire life has been a lie. The example of cognitive dissonance that stuck out to me from this film is when Truman intercepts backstage radio transmissions in his car radio. In a state of confusion, Truman mixes up his daily routine, even walking in front of various cars. He sticks his hands out, as if to stop them. With every interaction he has, he notices peoples’ strange behaviors, like everyone noticing him, no one speaking to him, even the fact that he’s not allowed into the elevator that was missing earlier. With each realization, Truman gets more scared, confused, and elevated.
This realization of his strange world causes Truman a lot of grief and mental discomfort. Throughout the film, he reaches out to his wife, best friend, and others to try and express his feelings, but because they are all actors and in on the secret, they all dismiss him. This leads him to internalize his struggles even more, making the mental discomfort even worse. He has to come to terms with the fact that his world is fake all alone. Despite the obstacles, Truman continues to push forward in his search for the real world and truth. In the end, he solves his cognitive dissonance by embracing reality, instead of staying ignorant and stuck in his fake, fantasy world. He overcomes his overwhelming states of confusion, making it out of the trap in his mind and the trap of the false world.
American Beauty: Lester Watching Angela, Lester’s Realization
In the film, American Beauty, the main character Lester experiences cognitive dissonance when confronting the decision between his normal, suppressed, suburban lifestyle, or his idealized reckless, active lifestyle he seeks after. When spotting his daughter’s friend, Angela, during a cheerleading performance, his inner wishes and fantasies are finally released. To him, this is an exciting change from his submissive lifestyle as a suburban father. At work, home, and everywhere throughout his life, he is powerless and unsatisfied. So, when he sees Angela, he sees an opportunity to escape the monotonous lifestyle for a new, exciting, and dangerous adventure. He sexualizes Angela, making each action and movement she does be just for him. Throughout the repeated angles and segments, we are able to see Lester’s infatuation with not only Angela, but the idea of escaping his boring life.
The problem about Lester chasing after Angela and his infatuation with her is that it’s looked down on by society. Seeing that Angela is a young, teenage girl, and Lester is probably in his mid-40’s, the social norm of this pedophilia is unacceptable in society. Lester knows that it is wrong, going after a young girl, but he still persists- sexualizing her only in his imagination and fantasies. Throughout the film, he finds that he cannot be satisfied by his suburban lifestyle, nor by his desires and feelings of infatuation towards Angela. It takes much trial and error, where he feels uncomfortable and much cognitive dissonance throughout trying to find a middle ground for both reality and fantasy. In the end, Lester breaks out his fantasy and infatuation with Angela, realizing that once he gets to know her beyond just his fantasy ideal of her, that she is just young and scared. After finally seducing her, Lester then switches course, finally seeing the reality of Angela and who she is, instead of just his desires and fantasy of her. Solving his cognitive dissonance, he gets to know her, and accepts and moves on from his unrealistic desire. All in all, I feel this is a great example of cognitive dissonance, especially since it is all an internal struggle, between what he wants and what he knows is wrong, that we get to watch Lester deal with throughout this film. The movie focuses on that internal struggle with a lot of its characters; deciding between their desires and values versus the expectations of society.