I won’t press it too much, but there are correlates in real-life.
A cult, for example, (whether a religious cult or simply a personality cult) is often a group of people who are manipulated into supporting a particular person’s narrative of reality.
Manipulation. Negotiation. Agendas. Narratives. They’re pretty much part of the package. The best we can do is to try to understand them and use them intentionally, because they’re not going anywhere.
Also: Religious Scientism—the practice of approaching scientific narratives as if they’re legitimate sources of universal values, morals, and ways of life— is a fiction followed by many. In fact, the processes and outcomes of evolution, biology, and even physics always occur in interaction with specific contexts. While there may be underlying principles, they’re often so general (and powerful) as to be irrelevant to the choices we face in day-to-day life. Most of what we call ‘Natural Law’ is highly context-dependent. Change the context and the so-called Law changes as well.
The greatest works of fiction are the structures in which we live out our lives.
That’s not a problem. It’s actually quite beautiful. It is at odds though with the hubris and certitude in which we so often like to indulge.
So….there’s that.