Decades ago, Joseph Campbell identified the Monomyth Cycle, also known as “The Hero's Journey” as a noted narrative in story telling. The majority of tales from Jesus Christ to James Bond uses this progression (in some variation) starting from an unlikely beginning, call to adventure, etc. etc. until they are dead (or we think they are dead), return, redemption, atonement, and finally freedom.
So when movies started to get more “symbolic” in their meaning (i.e. taking the monomyth and applying it to other aspects of fantasy) then yes... to any Christian fundamentalist the story of E.T. The Extraterrestrial seemed uncomfortable in its familiarity and the Star War's use of THE FORCE put literalism to the concept of the holy spirit. So the WTBTS mentioned these movies in Watchtower articles as there was such a ruckus about them. JWs are in no way unique in this as many Christian fundamentalists thought this way. I cannot stress how typical the WTBTS is at times.
But here is the flaw in this: EVERY story using the monomyth could be a metaphor for Jesus... mainly because the story of Jesus isn't that original in concept. Just in 1982 we had Annie, Blade Runner, An Officer and a Gentlemen, Tron, and Ghandhi that all had this theme.
So the WTBTS crated a bit of a problem for themselves: By mentioning specific movies, the purposefully inept and gullible masses were conflicted. E.T. and Star Wars are not allowed, but what about Superman – and OBVIOUS “Jesus” symbol, but honestly just a cartoon character that has been family-oriented since 1938. He has the philosophy of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, the mercy of Jesus, superhuman powers like Jesus, BUT no one thinks of him as Jesus even though there is such a warm Jesusy feel to the story. So it was confusing because everything from Ben-Hur to Tootsie follows a similar narrative pattern. WHAT ARE THEY TO DO?? And so people argued amongst themselves about what was appropriate and what was not. The Dark Crystal was not okay because it was sorcery, but the Secret of NIMH was okay because it was cartoon... and if that was fantasy that used A FORCE and okay why wasn't Star Wars which is obviously fantasy not okay? Etc. etc.
From then the WTBTS broke from their Adventist roots and Baptist brethren and stopped naming specific movies and characters to give only sweeping generalities toward the dangers from the entertainment industry by writing that viewing is left up to the publisher's discretion. Of course, this still meant that the elders could to judge someone if the publisher didn't make the “right” decision, but at least this way the WTBTS wouldn't get blamed.
