The Mission story
Johnathan, a courageous ball turret gunner and aspiring cartoonist, is trapped in the belly gun of his company's Boeing B-17 (named "Friendly Persuasion") after a firefight. With the landing gear damaged, the only other way the plane can land is if the crew parachute out as it crashes, inevitably killing him. It's for this reason that Johnathan must rely on his imagination to get out of his predicament. Directed by: Steven Spielberg. Story by: Steven Spielberg, Menno Meyjes.
16 total · 1 choice · 9 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| facing death | choice | Central to the story was Jonathan being trapped in the underside ball turret of a B-17 bomber with no apparent hope of surviving an emergence belly landing after the plane had lost its landing wheels. |
| desperation | major | Jonathan became increasingly desperate trapped inside the ball turret of a B-17 bomber with no apparent hope of surviving an imminent belly landing. In an act of ultimate desperation, he drew a sketch of a B-17 with cartoon wheels. By some miracle the wheels manifested into reality and the plan landed safely. |
| drawing | major | Jonathan was an aspiring cartoonist. He used his drawing ability to save his skin in the end. |
| hope | major | Static had lost all hope of saving Jonathan and was about to spare him some misery by putting a bullet in his head. However, Static couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. In a miraculous turn of events, cartoon wheels emerged from the plane, and Jonathan was saved. This aptly illustrates that one should never give up hope. |
| military related work | major | The story follows an Allied Boeing B-17 crew on a bombing raid into enemy territory. |
| miracle | major | The story culminated with the B-17 coming in for a smooth landing on oversized cartoon wheels. This was interpreted as a miracle by the plane captain, and presumably all who witnessed the mystifying scene. A possible interpretation of the story is that what happened was a case of divine intervention. |
| superior and subordinate | major | The B-17 captain did everything in his power to save a crewman trapped in the plane's ball turret from perishing in an emergency belly landing. |
| the wish to live | major | Jonathan became increasingly desperate trapped inside the ball turret of a B-17 bomber with no apparent hope of surviving an imminent belly landing. In an act of ultimate desperation, he drew a sketch of a B-17 with cartoon wheels. By some miracle the wheels manifested into reality and the plan landed safely. |
| wishing or wanting something really hard makes it happen | major | The story culminated with the B-17 coming in for a smooth landing on oversized cartoon wheels. A possible interpretation of the story is that Jonathan somehow brought the wheels into existence. |
| World War II | major | The story follows an Allied Boeing B-17 crew on a bombing raid into enemy territory. |