I have a simple formula: Great literature shapes language, thought, and feelings. So Bible is great literature, & pretty much anything by William Shakespeare. http://www.scribd.com/doc/13320268/Neologisms-by-Shakespeare > Joyce (We just have to wait and see if James Joyce really did write the "new Bible" (per Jung)).
(Speaking of the film: have you noted that there a just a 2 'individual' characters in that film and the rest are 'repeated patterns'?)
These cultural product provide concise pedagogical content that the larger society absorbs and then, in a "personal" way, each individual applies in (both) his or her internal reflection and external expression. There is pretty much a Persian proverb for every little thing that can happen and most come from "literature" of our greats. Of course, for the serious reader, each of these compact literary forms are gateways to the deeper (occult) content matter.