Why Film Studies?
Film Studies is a fast growing discipline at American universities and colleges. Incorporating other fields such as art, history, languages, popular culture, and communications, film studies offers the student extensive possibilities for experience and knowledge. Film studies majors learn to analyze, synthesize and discern important information—they learn to read and write effectively and look at the world with a critical eye, but most importantly, the film studies major develops a critical and audio-visual literacy. In a culture that increasingly relies on visual information, a comprehension of how meaning grows out of the moving image becomes essential to various areas of society.
The skills a film studies major receives are broad, extensive, and valuable. Students explore the historical, social, and political dimensions of film and culture more broadly. They gain knowledge and practice of the vital activities of analysis and synthesis that many employers within and without film studies seek. They learn to develop and maintain intellectual concentration, they learn to work both independently and work as part of a group.
Many graduates of film studies find positions with film companies, film archives, festivals, or they work as art managers, critics, journalists, independent artists, and teachers at a variety of levels including P-12, academia, or non-traditional. Traditionally, graduates in Film Studies have pursued higher education in Film Studies, and majors have been competitive in graduate school acceptance and in job searches nationally in these areas. Students will also be prepared for the kinds of positions in government, not-for-profit organizations, and industry that are open to other students majoring in the humanities. Other more specific possibilities reside in the communications job market—public relations, technical writing, advertising and educational media are just a few other exciting career options open to majors of film studies.
Explore the links to the right for more sepcific information.
