Film Studies and Literature

Film studies and literature is a combination that recognises that cinema and the written word are the two dominant narrative arts of the modern age, and that they illuminate each other in important ways. Film adapted and transformed many of the traditions of literary narrative even as it developed its own grammar of image, montage, sound, and time. Literature preceded and shaped cinema, and continues to generate the source material for much of what we watch.

Studying them together develops a richly sophisticated understanding of how stories are told and what they do in culture.

At Essex you will study this four-year full-time programme, developing critical skills that draw on cultural analysis, the impact of technological change, aesthetics, and the history of both media. You will examine how cinema developed in the modern world, from the silent era through the studio system to the diverse global film cultures of the present, alongside a broad encounter with literary traditions that takes you across periods, genres, and forms. The programme asks you to think rigorously about how meaning is made in both media, how technologies shape artistic possibilities, and how film and literature participate in broader cultural and political life.

You will develop strong analytical and writing skills across both disciplines.

Graduates of film studies and literature find their skills valued in a range of careers. Education, publishing, journalism, film criticism and curation, arts administration, broadcasting, and the creative industries more broadly are all common destinations. The critical and research skills developed across both disciplines are also transferable to law, policy, communications, and any sector that values the ability to analyse complex material and communicate clearly.

Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in film studies, literature, cultural studies, or media studies, and some move into academic research, criticism, or curatorial work in film and literary heritage.