Film Studies with Bible and Culture

Film Studies is the academic examination of one of the defining art forms of the past century and a half, asking how films work as visual and narrative objects, what they reveal about the societies and moments that produced them, and what the history of global cinema can tell us about culture, power, aesthetics and human experience. It draws on a wide range of critical and theoretical traditions, from psychoanalysis and semiotics to postcolonial theory and feminist criticism, applying them to films from across the world and from different periods of cinema history.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year MA (Hons) combines Film Studies with Bible and Culture, an unusual pairing that proves intellectually generative. The study of the Bible as a literary, historical and cultural text has shaped Western civilisation profoundly, and its influence is traceable across film, literature and the broader cultural imagination in ways that the two disciplines illuminate together. You will develop a sophisticated understanding of global film cultures, using historical, theoretical and critical approaches to examine films as complex cultural objects, while also engaging with biblical texts, their interpretive traditions, and their reception in culture.

A year abroad is built into the four-year programme, giving you the opportunity to study in another academic environment and to encounter cinema and cultural studies from a different perspective.

Graduates of film studies programmes develop strong skills in analysis, critical writing, and the interpretation of complex cultural objects. These transfer naturally into careers in the media and creative industries, including journalism, broadcasting, film criticism, programming and curation, education, arts administration, and cultural policy. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in film studies, media, cultural studies, or related disciplines, and some go on to academic or research careers.

The combination with Bible and Culture adds a further dimension that is distinctive and valuable in academic contexts.