Or we may identify strongly with a destructive element in a story and seek a path that brings us that kind of experience. We may also gain a bit of understanding about some aspect of ourselves we have rejected, and ultimately become able to accept that part of ourselves. And finally we may see behavior or values that we must evaluate and either accept or reject. Evaluating values either makes us more entrenched in our current role in society, or makes us seek a new role, thereby facilitating personal growth. Stories are a way that we communicate to each other what is acceptable, what isn't, and how to interpret our experience.
Stories can literally open an entire new world to people.
In other words, stories help form our perception of reality - especially the meaning of events in our lives. Stories also can be educational - discovery. Yet we perceive stories mostly as fun, and I write them to be entertainment. If you reduce entertainment to the component parts of our personalities that it brushes, you lose the perspective of being entertained. We can reduce it and catch glimpses of it, but it is a concept that is more than the sum of its parts.