http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/polti_situations/polti_situations.htm Our mind stores memories to help us socialize. Childbirth is magical, funerals are a time of bonding, we're all in this together, giving is better than getting. It's how we out-competed the Neandertals - they were objectively smarter than us but didn't form groups larger than a blood-bond family while Cro Magnons formed prosocial groups of 140-150 loosely-related individuals. The very structure of your brain has evolved to define you as a member of a group not a family so the group has primacy.I can't help but think that the "Man in a Hole" and "Icarus" stories are not different than the other story forms; just shorter.
Another thought: the way our mind stores memories is a let-down.