Media and English Literature

Media and English literature is an interdisciplinary combination that brings together the critical analysis of media in all its forms with the close reading and theoretical frameworks that literary study provides. Media studies examines how communication technologies and the content they carry shape culture, politics, and everyday life, drawing on sociology, cultural theory, political economy, and the analysis of specific media forms including film, television, journalism, digital platforms, and social media. English literature develops the capacity for sustained close reading, contextual analysis, and the construction of critical arguments through engagement with a wide range of literary texts.

Together, the two disciplines offer a sophisticated toolkit for understanding how meanings are made and circulated in contemporary culture.

At Swansea University, this three-year full-time programme is explicitly interdisciplinary, integrating the critical, theoretical, and practical strengths of both subjects, as the current description reflects. You will engage with the major traditions of literary criticism and theory alongside contemporary media theory and the analysis of specific media texts and industries. The combination encourages you to think about the relationship between older literary forms and newer media forms, examining how narrative, representation, and cultural value operate across different types of text and different technological contexts.

Research and writing skills are developed throughout, and you will produce work that demonstrates the ability to move between close textual analysis and broader cultural and theoretical argument.

Swansea's location in Wales adds a distinctive dimension to the programme, with Welsh-language media and literature available as contexts for study alongside broader UK and international cultural production.

Graduates from media and English literature programmes pursue careers in journalism, publishing, broadcasting, digital content, communications, public relations, education, cultural organisations, and research. The combination of critical thinking, writing ability, and cultural awareness developed through the degree is valued across many professional contexts. Postgraduate study in media, English, cultural studies, or journalism supports those wishing to develop specialist expertise.