Canonical narratives is an interdisciplinary concept describing how narratives reflect the assumptions and expectations of their social and cultural environments. Formulated within the field of theoretical and philosophical psychology, this concept draws on the American psychologist Jerome Bruner’s (1915–2016) writings on the role of culturally canonical forms in folk psychology. Theorizing in narrative psychology has explored related concepts which show how cultural and historical narratives, often implicit and unconscious, shape our understandings of the self. There is utility in expanding theorizing on canonical narratives beyond how they interact with established psychological processes, such as the self and memory, and to focus on the political implications of these narratives. Building on Bruner’s theorizing on culturally canonical expectations and forms, it is argued that critical canonical narratives can be a tool for analyzing current political life.