English Lit vs. Film and Media PhD

[Abyss21]

I'm having a tough time deciding between two directions for my PhD - English Literature or Film and Media.

I have a Master's degree in English Literature and a Bachelor's degree in English with minors in Theatre and Film as well as Linguistics. I've always been drawn to interdisciplinary theories, such as structuralism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, critical theory (the Frankfurt School), feminist theory, queer theory, postcolonialism, and deconstruction. My literary interests have been almost exclusively contemporary and postmodern, and I don't particularly value literature as a medium above popular culture (e.g. television shows), film, media (e.g. advertisements), etc. My master's thesis analyzed literature in conjunction with film and advertisements and my primary theoretical focus derived from film and media studies. However, I lack the background in the technological aspects of media and film (I don't know coding and I've never made my own movie or other digital project). I've been debating for a while about whether to switch from English Literature to a Film and Media direction, but I'm also concerned about the job opportunities available to Film/Media PhDs vs. English Literature PhDs. I've ruled out the possibility of going into Gender and Sexuality, Cultural Studies, or Critical Theory programs because of my concern that they are too specific for the post-PhD job hunt. However, from what I've noticed, many universities are strongly embracing the digital humanities and seem to be going in the direction of Media/Film studies. I also feel that Media and Film would offer me the opportunities to learn practical technological skills rather than only the theoretical foundation that PhDs typically offer. Just wanted to check out other peoples' opinions on this matter. Thanks in advance for the help! Clearly I'm not the most decisive person out there haha.

Edited October 23, 2016 by panicobracademy

[eyeshadow]

I think it varies from program to program, really. Some programs integrate digital stuff nowadays, as you've mentioned. UCSB has separate Film and Media Ph.D. track, but their emphasis is quite central to criticism and literary stuff than technical/ practical skills. If you're really into practical learnings, then you could check out media/communications departments in some schools that offer field experiences--but they may require previous backgrounds from the field, or an MFA to the least. You could check out for programs like Yale where English and Film studies coordinate pretty well. What I would simply do is just list out programs to programs and make applications rather flexibly. Every program has different focus, even if they are labelled the same. I don't think you need to be concerned about switching, since that itself is a big decision! 

[Abyss21]

Thank you for the advice! I will definitely look into the specifics of each of the programs I'm considering and cater my application to each individual program's specific focuses. Thank you for also clarifying that I don't necessarily have to switch departments - that helps take a huge weight off my shoulders.

[Between Fields]

From what I've seen, Digital Humanities and Film Studies are often only tangentially related--leading digital humanists actually tend to specialize in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries or earlier, as that's the material that's currently in vogue to make available online. Largely, digital humanists are self-taught, in terms of coding and digitization techniques, because there aren't agreed-upon best practices in the field (which is a catch-22 because many of them are self-taught). They're content area experts who have learned DH to take that content to a wider audience. I had one class in digitization of archival materials in my English PhD coursework, and it was a lot of fun.

Think about it in terms of what you'll want to teach after your PhD and what department you'd see yourself in. With the English PhD you're getting a lot of experience in composition and have generalist English positions available to you. With a Film Studies PhD, you're limiting the number of positions you could reasonably apply for.

[Abyss21]

On 10/26/2016 at 3:38 PM, Between Fields said:

Think about it in terms of what you'll want to teach after your PhD and what department you'd see yourself in. With the English PhD you're getting a lot of experience in composition and have generalist English positions available to you. With a Film Studies PhD, you're limiting the number of positions you could reasonably apply for.

Thank you for the advice! I've been thinking about the job prospects a lot in my decision making process and I agree with your assessment of an English vs. a Film Studies degree. If I could find a program in English that allows me to dabble in Digital Humanities, then that would likely be a better alternative to simply going straight into a Film Studies degree. From what I've heard, some English PhD programs are offering coding courses (like University of Alberta) so it's definitely something for me to look into.

Edited October 27, 2016 by ThePomoHipster

[poliscar]

Frankly, I think that there's actually an expanding market when it comes to Media Studies, particularly the theoretical side of things. I'm thinking specifically of departments like NYU's Media Studies program at Steinhardt, or Brown's Modern Culture and Media. There's a current critical conjunction in and around German Media Studies/Archaeology (Siegert, Kittler, etc), contemporary French theory (Stiegler, Laruelle, Malabou), New Materialisms (etc) and other strains of thought. It'd would be worth your while to look at programs that place more emphasis on this sort of work, because you would be able to maintain your interests in Critical Theory & Gender and Sexuality. 

Maybe look at people like Wendy Chun at Brown, or Susan Murray at NYU? Northwestern could be another place of interest, as could Berkeley...

[Abyss21]

On 10/26/2016 at 9:23 PM, Wyatt's Terps said:

...there's usually a graduate course each semester in the discipline (personally, I'll likely be taking a Technologies of Writing course in the spring). I think there are four or five graduate students with DH as their main focus, and several others are at least DH-influenced in their methodologies etc.

That program sounds intriguing! I'll definitely look into it. My one concern would be my complete lack of experience in DH. Do the other students who take DH courses have a pretty solid background in it or is it new for many of them?

[Abyss21]

On 10/26/2016 at 9:37 PM, poliscar said:

Frankly, I think that there's actually an expanding market when it comes to Media Studies, particularly the theoretical side of things. I'm thinking specifically of departments like NYU's Media Studies program at Steinhardt, or Brown's Modern Culture and Media. There's a current critical conjunction in and around German Media Studies/Archaeology (Siegert, Kittler, etc), contemporary French theory (Stiegler, Laruelle, Malabou), New Materialisms (etc) and other strains of thought. It'd would be worth your while to look at programs that place more emphasis on this sort of work, because you would be able to maintain your interests in Critical Theory & Gender and Sexuality. 

Maybe look at people like Wendy Chun at Brown, or Susan Murray at NYU? Northwestern could be another place of interest, as could Berkeley...

Thank you very much for your suggestions! I have been contemplating switching over to Media Studies for a while now. I know that you mentioned the expanding market for the field, but I am concerned about going into a more specific, interdisciplinary program rather than English because I've heard from several sources that it is much more difficult to get a job at the end that way. For example, I am interested in Brown's Modern Culture and Media, but would it give me the same kinds of opportunities as an English degree? While someone with an English PhD can go on to work in more specific, interdisciplinary fields, I've heard that it is more difficult for someone with a more specific field to get a job in a more general field like English.

 

[poliscar]

19 hours ago, ThePomoHipster said:

Thank you very much for your suggestions! I have been contemplating switching over to Media Studies for a while now. I know that you mentioned the expanding market for the field, but I am concerned about going into a more specific, interdisciplinary program rather than English because I've heard from several sources that it is much more difficult to get a job at the end that way. For example, I am interested in Brown's Modern Culture and Media, but would it give me the same kinds of opportunities as an English degree? While someone with an English PhD can go on to work in more specific, interdisciplinary fields, I've heard that it is more difficult for someone with a more specific field to get a job in a more general field like English.

I mean, it's difficult to get a job no matter what, so I don't think there are any easy answers. I generally am wary about "interdisciplinary" programs (and programs in cultural studies) but the caveat there is that things dramatically even out when you're talking about the very best schools. Berkeley Rhetoric, Stanford MTL, Brown MCM, Duke Lit and NYU Media Studies & Performance Studies all do very well in terms of placement, including in English departments. 

At the end of the day, the work you do in the department will be what matters. I don't mean that as some sort of platitude about quality ('there will always be jobs for good people," etc) but in terms of the literal direction/field of your work. If your dissertation ends up being about something totally unrelated to English, then no, you won't get a job in an English department. But you can strategically design your research to maximize the number of possible employment opportunities. If you have a chapter on film, one on a novelist, one on an artist (etc, all very vague) you can pitch yourself to various fields. 

[Abyss21]

On 10/28/2016 at 6:50 PM, poliscar said:

I mean, it's difficult to get a job no matter what, so I don't think there are any easy answers. I generally am wary about "interdisciplinary" programs (and programs in cultural studies) but the caveat there is that things dramatically even out when you're talking about the very best schools. Berkeley Rhetoric, Stanford MTL, Brown MCM, Duke Lit and NYU Media Studies & Performance Studies all do very well in terms of placement, including in English departments. 

At the end of the day, the work you do in the department will be what matters. I don't mean that as some sort of platitude about quality ('there will always be jobs for good people," etc) but in terms of the literal direction/field of your work. If your dissertation ends up being about something totally unrelated to English, then no, you won't get a job in an English department. But you can strategically design your research to maximize the number of possible employment opportunities. If you have a chapter on film, one on a novelist, one on an artist (etc, all very vague) you can pitch yourself to various fields. 

Thank you very much for these suggestions. You've basically answered my questions about going into interdisciplinary programs at the "top" schools. I am strongly considering applying to Duke's Literature program and potentially another program or two from the ones that you have recommended. I actually was planning on making my dissertation very multifaceted in the sense that every chapter will likely focus on a different medium. It's good to know that that is a marketable technique for the difficult job hunt that's looming in the distant-ish future. You've summarized the answers to all of the questions I've been having very concisely so I really appreciate your help!

Edited October 31, 2016 by ThePomoHipster