11 Movies Every English Major Should See At Least Once

Watch these movies and you’ll graduate “seen ‘em cum laude.” Luckily for you, they are all available on Amazon Video, included with an Amazon Prime Student membership!

So. Much. Reading. And you just hit page 100. Take a break from highlighting to check out one of these movies:

1. Because deep, philosophical arguments with your TA (and why you’re right) don’t end once you graduate, check out The End of the Tour.
Because deep, philosophical arguments with your TA (and why you're right) don't end once you graduate, check out The End of the Tour.

Let’s face it, you’ll probably read a few David Foster Wallace essays and try to get through Infinite Jest once. This film is an adaptation of David Lipinsky’s memoir, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, which follows Lipinsky (Jesse Eisenberg) as he conducts a series of interviews with David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) during the last five days of a book tour.

2. With a quick wit and critical mind, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, is essentially an English major.
With a quick wit and critical mind, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, is essentially an English major.

Nineteenth-century English novels practically define your major, and Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous of the lot. This BBC series version is widely considered to be the best adaptation.

3. Saving all of your reading for the week before finals may set you up for a self-fulfilling prophecy, but you’re no Macbeth.
Saving all of your reading for the week before finals may set you up for a self-fulfilling prophecy, but you're no Macbeth.

Good luck getting your degree without taking at least one Shakespeare class. While not a literal translation and probably better suited as supplemental material to reading the play, the eerie atmosphere, beautiful cinematography, and stellar performances by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard make this a must-watch for any English major.

4. Thinking about using your English major to become a writer? The Words would like to have some…well, words with you.

Filled with many ~writerly~ twist and turns, it’s about one already successful writer telling the story of a younger, ambitious writer who plagiarizes the manuscript of yet another writer 60 years ago.

5. To see how the critical analysis skills you’re learning don’t degrade with age and memory, watch Mr. Holmes.
To see how the critical analysis skills you're learning don't degrade with age and memory, watch Mr. Holmes.

Featuring Ian McKellen as a 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes, it sees the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic detective emerging from retirement to solve a 50-year-old mystery.

6. Whether you had to see it in high school or in college, Apocalypse Now is an English major’s rite of passage.
Whether you had to see it in high school or in college, Apocalypse Now is an English major's rite of passage.

Arguably considered one of the best films of all time, it adapts Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, which you will most definitely encounter at least once before graduation.

7. If critically analyzing and presenting different perspectives is what gets you A’s on finals, consider Arranged an A+.
If critically analyzing and presenting different perspectives is what gets you A's on finals, consider Arranged an A+.

It’s about two elementary school teachers answering a student’s question of whether or not they can be friends despite their Orthodox Jewish and Muslim upbringings.

8. Struggling to articulate a unique viewpoint? Take some notes from Prince Among Slaves, which does it masterfully.
Struggling to articulate a unique viewpoint? Take some notes from Prince Among Slaves, which does it masterfully.

While you’ll undoubtedly read slave narratives from Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup, this documentary covers the life of Abdul Rahman, a Muslim prince who was sold into slavery by a rival African tribe in the 18th century. Forty years later, he gains his freedom, becomes a celebrity, and even eats in the White House.

9. A Clockwork Orange is one of the rare required-reading novels that also became a critically acclaimed film.
A Clockwork Orange is one of the rare required-reading novels that also became a critically acclaimed film.

Even if you don’t have to read the Anthony Burgess novel of the same name, Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation presents a very intriguing dystopian view of the near-future and a charismatic sociopath protagonist who, even today, feels very relevant.

10. Feel like you’re crying “witchcraft” when the professor thinks your A-worthy paper is a C+? You’ll relate toThe Witch.
Feel like you're crying "witchcraft" when the professor thinks your A-worthy paper is a C+? You'll relate toThe Witch.

Like Arthur Miller’s required-reading staple The Crucible, The Witch forces its audience to question belief and how seemingly good people can crumble under the weight of cultural dogma. Sure, The Crucible was a commentary on McCarthyism, but you’re an English major — see if you can figure out how The Witch does the same for modern times. Be warned: If you can’t handle horror, it might not be for you.

11. English majors often have to bend reality to make an argument work. The Man in the High Castle takes this to the next level.
English majors often have to bend reality to make an argument work. The Man in the High Castle takes this to the next level.

Though not technically a movie, the series, which is inspired by the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, explores what the world would be like if the Axis Powers won WWII. It also proves that things could be way worse than getting a C+ on a paper you spent five coffee-fueled hours on.

Poll Results

― nomar, Thursday, 12 January 2017 17:39 (seven years ago) link