Oral Tradition

Literature, film, song and dance are the modern equivalents of oral tradition of indigenous people, which is why it's imperative to only read great literature, instead of mere pulp fiction, and to not mindlessly watch just any movie or listen to just any music.
As my freshman high school English teacher pointed out, the greatest work of English literature is the King James translation of the Bible, which standardized the English language at the time. For a long time, it was the only book to which many to most people had access.
Orthodox Christianity is historical metanarrative, that enables humans to make sense of their temporal (and eternal) life, to understand the meaning and purpose of temporal life — to love, serve and worship the Living God in spirit and truth, not idolize dead matter (make an idol of the material world by loving, serving and worshipping Mammon).
Temporal life is the time of preparation for eternal life. Orthodox Christianity shows humans how “the world” actually works (dysfuntionally) and answers the question what's it all about [Alfie]?.
Movies are the modern equivalent of literature, which is why it's imperative to be selective in what is watched, since the U.S. state after the Civil War (Second American Revolution) has transformed citizens into consumers, and wants nothing more than to manage democracy by manipulating consumers away from reform and revolution by dumbing them down with Bread & Circuses.

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel | Amazon
The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom | Amazon
Reading As a Way of Life
— “In The Questions That Matter Most, Jane Smiley makes the case for literature.”
Alta Live: Author Jane Smiley | YouTube