Comparative Literature and Film Studies

Comparative literature and film studies is a pairing that explores storytelling across two of its most significant and culturally rich forms: the written text and the moving image. Comparative literature reads across national and linguistic boundaries, asking what texts from different traditions share and how they differ, and using comparison as a method that reveals things about each text that would be invisible when read in isolation. Film studies examines cinema as an art form and a cultural institution, analysing how films work aesthetically, what they mean socially and politically, and how they fit into the histories of specific national cinemas and of cinema as a global phenomenon.

Together the two disciplines develop a sophisticated capacity for cross-media and cross-cultural analysis.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year MA (Hons) programme includes a year abroad, giving you international academic experience and the opportunity to encounter different approaches to both disciplines. St Andrews' comparative literature programme draws on expertise from across the School of Modern Languages and beyond, enabling you to read texts of any genre, period, and language, all in English translation, while the film studies component develops your capacity for close visual analysis and theoretical engagement with cinema. You will learn to read literature across cultural and linguistic borders, to analyse films from different national and generic traditions, and to situate both literary and cinematic works in their social and historical contexts.

You will develop skills in close reading, visual analysis, critical and theoretical argument, and sustained academic writing across two distinct but related media and critical traditions.

Graduates from comparative literature and film studies programmes pursue careers in publishing, journalism, film criticism, arts administration, education, the cultural sector, and the screen industries. Postgraduate study in comparative literature, film studies, cultural studies, or a related humanities discipline is a natural continuation for those seeking specialist or research roles.