Join us as you explore the stylistic, industrial and cultural diversities of global cinema, through the close study of films from different historical and regional contexts. Whilst developing your analytical skills you will examine variations in cinematic style, aesthetics and production modes and consider how films reflect and shape social, political and industrial landscapes.

Through lectures, screenings, readings and discussions, you will explore major cinematic movements and traditions such as:

• Silent cinema
• Classical Hollywood
• Global Neorealism
• Middle Eastern and European New Waves
• Contemporary independent filmmaking

You will also engage with key debates on:

• Film authorship
• Digital technologies
• Genre evolution
• Film circulation
• Emerging identities in cinema

By analysing case studies from mainstream and avant-garde traditions across different regions, you will gain a broader understanding of the theoretical and cross-cultural connections that shape world cinema. By the end of the module, you will have developed critical perspectives on the continuities, ruptures, and debates in film history.

Critically engage with questions and debates about our socially connected lives and the ways in which we interact and act on the world through language and communication, individually and as a society, to shape knowledge and reality. In this module you will gain the skills and insight to ask questions which change each year but may include:

• How does communication work in our individual and collective lives?

• How might certain kinds of communication bring about ethical and political change (for example, by making something permissible or changing the boundaries of acceptable political discourse)?

• Are lying and other kinds of deception permissible, and if so, when and for whom?

• What does freedom of speech really mean, and how might duties and rights differ in this space for citizens, for the press, for politicians, for academics, and on social media?

• How can collective knowledge practices exclude or harm, do we have duties to address these problems, and what might work to do so?

• What is the nature and appropriate regulation of propaganda and hate speech?

• What are the ways in which patterns of attention and exclusion or inclusion in who we listen to and develop knowledge with may have ethical and political implications?

• What communicative protest and speech acts are legitimate in a democratic state?

You will leave this module with a better understanding of how practices of knowledge creation and participation, and of language and communication, may actively shape and determine the boundaries of our world, and with the skills to critically examine these forces in action across the media, social media, politics and society.

Explore how philosophical thinking can tackle real-world problems, from personal dilemmas to global challenges, by linking abstract ideas to concrete decisions.

In this module you will engage with an applied philosophical challenge, using your philosophical skills to provide compelling reasons in favour of your solution. Through production of a short podcast or in-person presentation, you will also develop your ability to engage in philosophical argumentation beyond the written word. And along the way, you’ll gain the tools to think clearly, act responsibly, and engage thoughtfully with the complex world around you.

Specific topics studied each year draw on Lancaster’s wide range of applied expertise and may include:

• Ethics and regulation in traditional and social media, in the era of mass global communication and impact

• Bioethical topics such as euthanasia, rationing, ageism, research ethics and public health ethics

• Health and illness, the concept of mental health, and the role of lay or patient knowledge versus medical expertise

• Ethics in professional and organisational life, including divisions of roles, decent work, unpaid and care work, the rights and duties of corporations and employers and codes of ethics

• Study of different scientific methods and their limitations

Throughout this module you will learn about topics in applied philosophy, while developing and practicing some of the many transferable skills that Philosophy graduates bring to a wide range of professional roles, such as critical problem solving, political and ethical reasoning, the clear identification of problems, and the art of communicating potential solutions to diverse audiences.

Explore the development of film genres in Classic Hollywood, examining how the studio system shaped genre conventions, storytelling techniques, and audience expectations. You will analyse key genres, such as Silent Cinema, Musicals, and Melodrama, considering their evolution, industrial contexts, and cultural significance.

Through screenings and critical readings, you will assess how genre films establish recurring themes, visual styles and modes of performance. The module also explores how factors such as technological advancements, audience demand and the rise of the star system influenced genre filmmaking.

By the end of the module, you will have developed a strong understanding of genre as both a creative and commercial force in Hollywood cinema, as well as essential analytical skills for further study in film history, theory, and contemporary genre cinema.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a new approach to philosophy began to emerge that questioned and interrogated the inherited western philosophical tradition from Plato to Kant. This new approach was later described as ‘continental’ philosophy.

In this module, you will discover some of the key thinkers from this continental tradition of philosophy. The particular philosophers will vary from year to year, but will include pioneering thinkers who have been particularly influential on later continental philosophers (for example, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein) as well as more recent continental thinkers themselves (for example, Lyotard, Derrida, Levinas, Badiou, Žižek, Foucault, Arendt and Beauvoir). While engaging with their thoughts, we will consider difficult and enduring questions such as:

• What is the relationship between history and truth?

• How does subjective experience relate to universal truth?

• What is the significance of gender and embodiment in philosophical reflection?

• What is the role of language and discourse in philosophical claims?

• How might we conceive of the relationship between power and freedom?

On completion of this module, you will be able to understand and interpret the central arguments made by these thinkers and to assess their distinctive claims, methods and approaches and their continuing significance for philosophy and for how we ought to structure our societies and lives.

Move beyond introductory concepts to explore film theory in depth, examining how films construct meaning through form, representation, and audience engagement.

You will critically assess cinema’s relationship with artistic expression and spectatorship, engaging with complex debates that have shaped film scholarship since the medium’s inception. Focusing on advanced theoretical analysis, this module equips you with the conceptual knowledge and critical vocabulary to interpret films using semiotic, psychoanalytic, formalist, philosophical and cognitivist approaches.

You will explore key concepts such as cinematic modernism, subjectivity in film perception and cinema’s evolving relationship with philosophy. The module fosters independent critical engagement with the works of influential theorists, deepening your understanding of theoretical frameworks.

By applying these perspectives to a range of case studies, you will refine your ability to conduct detailed textual analysis. By the end of the module, you will have developed sophisticated theoretical and analytical skills essential for higher-level film study.

Join us as we explore how cinema constructs, reinforces and challenges ideas of gender, race and ideology through global examples. You will engage with key theoretical frameworks, including feminist and queer film phenomenology, psychoanalysis, Marxism and postcolonial theory, to critically examine how films reflect and shape social and political structures.

Through screenings and readings, you will analyse the work of women filmmakers, Third Cinema movements and representations of race and identity across different cultural and historical contexts. The module considers how film style, narrative and spectatorship contribute to ideological meaning, encouraging you to question dominant perspectives in mainstream and independent cinema.

By the end of the module, you will have developed critical tools to analyse cinema through multiple theoretical lenses, deepening your understanding of film as a site of ideological negotiation. This module provides essential skills for further study in film theory, global cinema and cultural analysis.

What does it take to have a mind? How does science work? Does human reason equip us to understand the external world? In this module we explore the nature of consciousness and reality, and the methods by which we understand them, focussing on key debates in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of science.

In the first part of the module, you will explore what it takes to have a mind, examining and critiquing some of the wide range of answers philosophers have offered to this intractable problem. Questions you will investigate include:

• What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?

• How do animal minds or artificial intelligence fit into our understanding of thought and consciousness?

• Can science ever provide us with a full understanding of how consciousness is possible?

The second part of the module turns to the nature of science itself. Modern science is often regarded as our most reliable guide to reality, but what justifies this status? In investigating the nature of science, you will learn about some of the most influential twentieth-century accounts of scientific method and theory-testing. Questions you will address include:

• How does science differ from non-science?

• Is there a scientific method?

• Should we believe in unobservable entities posited by scientific theories, such as quarks or superstrings?

• What are limits of scientific and rational inquiry?

Through wrestling with debates about the nature of consciousness, science, and the extent to which we can understand reality you will leave this module equipped with a greater understanding of some of the most difficult and enduring challenges in philosophy: what it is to be human, to have sentience, and how should we understand the vast body of scientific knowledge that shapes our collective world?

Global and local political and economic affairs raise complicated philosophical issues. While political theory and philosophy often focus on normative questions – such as the nature of justice, freedom, or legitimacy – this module centres on the epistemological and methodological challenges that underpin our understanding of political and economic life. These challenges are no less important for how we think about contemporary societies and the difficulties they face and are, as you will discover, closely connected to more normative questions.

Concepts such as democracy or autocracy, money, taxation and national debt, power and economic growth – all are complex and contested:

• They raise metaphysical questions: what sorts of ‘things’ are they?

• They pose epistemological challenges: how can we know or measure them? Is it possible to study them without making assumptions about values?

• They provoke broader considerations: how do large-scale political and economic phenomena relate to individual people and their activities?

Through considering these questions on this module, you will gain an understanding of the special challenges involved in knowledge of our social, political and economic systems, and how philosophical thinking complements the tasks of political science and economics.

Create a portfolio of investigative and critical writing which explores a particular philosophical topic in depth.

In this module you will be guided with expert support from Lancaster philosophers to develop your philosophical and independent study skills. Through deep engagement with a specific topic you will develop your ability to assess philosophical arguments and make independent judgements, informed by reasoning and evidence. You will engage with a text, problem, figure or body of work chosen by an academic within the philosophy team at Lancaster who is a specialist on the topic and work with their expert support, in groups and independently.

Project topics offered each year will be drawn from one or more of Lancaster’s many areas of expertise, such as:

• Global philosophy
• Comparative philosophy
• Ethics
• Metaphysics
• Political philosophy
• Applied philosophy
• Social ontology and epistemology
• Philosophy of science
• Philosophy of mind
• The history of philosophy
• Feminist philosophy
• Continental philosophy
• Aesthetics

Completion of this module will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need for further independent writing in your final year of study.

This dynamic module blends theory and practice to immerse you in the craft of screenwriting. Through lectures and hands-on workshops, you will develop essential skills in narrative structure, character development and dialogue, while working towards a 15–20-page screenplay.

You will engage with the entire screenwriting process—from initial concept to final draft—receiving feedback through writing groups, table reads and peer critiques. The module emphasises both creativity and industry awareness, introducing you to funding opportunities, pitching techniques and the screenwriter’s role in film production. Alongside practical writing, you will refine your critical analysis skills by evaluating professional screenplays and developing confidence in presenting your work.

By the end of the module, you will have produced a professional-quality screenplay and gained a comprehensive storytelling toolkit, preparing you for careers in screenwriting, filmmaking and broader media industries.

In this module, you will collaboratively develop, produce, and complete a short dramatic film while engaging with sustainable industry-standard production practices. The emphasis is on technical competence, creative problem-solving, and reflective collaboration.

At the start of the module, you'll form your own production groups and assign yourself one of the key creative roles within the team—Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Art Director, Sound Recordist/Designer, or Editor. Where needed, roles may be shared or doubled up to ensure all production responsibilities are met.

The module is supported by advanced technical workshops in camera, lighting, grip, sound, editing, and post-production workflows, preparing you to meet contemporary professional standards while reflecting on sustainability and resource-conscious filmmaking.

In your third year you will study at one of our international partner universities. This will help you to expand your global outlook and professional network, as well as developing your cultural and personal skills. It is also an opportunity to gain a different perspective on your subject through studying it in another country.

You will choose specialist modules relating to your degree and potentially modules from other subjects offered by the host university that are specific to that university and country.

The availability of places at overseas partners varies each year. In previous years destinations for students in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences have included Australia, USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.

This is the culmination of your studies, combining everything you have learnt to undertake an in-depth, self-directed research project on the topic of your choice. You will propose an area of investigation, and an appropriate supervisor will be assigned to provide guidance, helping you refine your research focus and methodology.

Supporting independent research, creative exploration, and critical engagement with film and media practices, this module gives you the freedom to explore your personal interests. You may choose to complete one of the following:

• A traditional written dissertation
• An individual practice-based project such as a short film, screenplay, or other media work accompanied by a written critical piece
• A small group practical project in which you will collaboratively produce a short film with individual critical reflections

By the end of the module, you will have produced a substantial piece of work demonstrating advanced conceptual engagement, independent thinking and project management, preparing you for further study or a career in research, filmmaking or the media industry.

From music, film, and television to sports, fashion, and digital media, explore how cultural texts raise philosophical questions about identity, morality, power, and meaning, and examine how popular culture both reflects and shapes the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. In this module you will look at how philosophers have understood the production, circulation and reception of popular culture, and how it bears on our own autonomy, agency, power, and identity.

You will study themes which may include:

• Philosophical approaches to mass culture, cultural value, art, and aesthetic judgement

• Authorship, mass production, genre, kitsch, remix, and the ontology of reproducible artworks

• Identities, stereotypes, cultural appropriation, objectification, and other political issues in regard to popular culture and mainstream media

• The Frankfurt School on the culture industry and the critique of popular music

• Pragmatist, analytic and continental arguments for the aesthetic and social value of popular music, film, television and other forms

• Philosophical analysis of selected cultural artefacts as case studies – songs, films, novels, and visual art

In studying this module, you will gain an understanding of how philosophy provides tools for interpreting the stories we collectively tell and consume – and how those stories, in turn, influence our sense of self and the very fabric of the societies and world we inhabit.

Politics is one of the most widespread and diverse phenomena of human experience. Yet it is often studied by relying on concepts, theoretical resources, and methodological approaches derived from a single intellectual tradition. This module seeks to reverse this trend by introducing you to global philosophical perspectives emanating from different intellectual traditions on a particular topic.

The philosophical traditions with which we engage will vary from year to year, but may include Chinese, Continental, Analytic, African, Feminist, Postcolonial, and/or Decolonial perspectives. The topics that we look at will also change but may include one or more of the following:

• Democracy

• Modernity

• Secularism

• Pluralism

• Rights

• Political legitimacy

We will consider how the theme(s) we focus on has or have been construed in different settings, and we will inquire into how these different construals can help us achieve a better understanding of today’s sociopolitical landscape, while also providing new perspectives on how to tackle some of the most pressing political problems of our times.

In addition to learning about different philosophical traditions, you will also reflect on the challenges of studying philosophy comparatively and engaging with philosophical traditions that derive from different cultural settings, developing a broader critical understanding of political community and life.

This advanced, practice-based module provides an industry-informed approach to documentary filmmaking.

Working in small groups, you will research, develop and produce a short documentary, choosing either to pursue an independent concept or respond to a stakeholder brief. The module supports a broad range of documentary genres and styles, encouraging experimentation with form while maintaining professional standards.

Through workshops and practical training, you will refine your skills in cinematography, sound recording and editing, while gaining awareness of ethical considerations, industry expectations, funding opportunities and distribution strategies across traditional and digital platforms.

Collaboration is central to this module, requiring you to navigate real-world production challenges, from research and planning to post-production. By the end of the module, you will have created a completed short documentary and developed the technical, conceptual and professional skills essential for careers in documentary filmmaking and beyond.

This hands-on module uses engaging workshops to explore Experimental Cinema and discover how it challenges mainstream narratives and disrupts traditional modes of spectatorship.

Through a combination of critical discussions on selected films and hands-on creative experimentation, this module challenges you to rethink film form beyond conventional storytelling while encouraging you to bring your visions to life through practice.

You will study key movements and approaches, starting from the historical avant-gardes – the influence of artistic movements like Dada, Surrealism and Structuralism- to contemporary artists’ moving image.

By the end of the module, you will have developed a critical and practical understanding of experimental cinema, gaining experience in challenging the boundaries of film aesthetics and spectatorship. Emphasising creative risk-taking and critical inquiry, this module encourages an expanded approach to filmmaking that transcends conventional modes of production and exhibition.

Discover cinema as a dynamic socio-cultural institution, exploring how films are circulated, exhibited and received. You will analyse the role of mediators such as programmers, distributors and critics, as well as the spaces where films are consumed and preserved, including cinemas, festivals, archives and digital platforms.

Focusing on both historical and contemporary perspectives, the module considers how film cultures evolve within local and global contexts. Examples may include:

• The introduction of movie theatres in colonial settings
• The rise of multiplexes
• The role of film festivals in shaping regional industries

You will also explore how exhibition and distribution shape audience engagement and film heritage.

By the end of the module, you will have developed advanced research, analytical and communication skills, enabling you to engage critically with film institutions and cultural industries. This will prepare you for further academic study or careers in film curation, distribution and exhibition.

This module examines the evolving structures, practices, and challenges of film industries across different historical and global contexts. You will explore key industrial processes such as censorship, marketing, promotion and sustainability, while also engaging with major film movements that have shaped contemporary cinema.

Through case studies, you will analyse how national and transnational film industries adapt to technological, economic and political shifts. Topics may include digital cinema, green production initiatives and the role of institutions such as the BFI in shaping industry standards. The module also explores movements like Hong Kong and New Wave cinemas, assessing their impact on filmmaking practices and global circulation.

By the end of the module, you will have developed a critical understanding of the forces shaping film industries, equipping you with analytical skills applicable to film production, distribution and policy. This module provides a strong foundation for further study in film culture and industry practices.

Examining the evolution of film genres in a global context, this module focuses on the ways contemporary filmmakers innovate within established and classic genre traditions. You will analyse key genres (which may include Science Fiction, Horror and Comic Book films), considering their artistic, industrial and technological developments across different cinematic traditions.

Through case studies, you will explore how genre conventions adapt to national and transnational influences, addressing topics such as digital effects and world-building, genre hybridity and the role of franchises in global media. The module also considers how streaming platforms, audience reception and fan cultures shape contemporary genre filmmaking.

By the end of the module, you will have gained an advanced understanding of modern genre as a dynamic cinematic form. You will be equipped with critical and analytical skills essential for further research or careers in film criticism, curation and media industries.

Interconnected global crises and states of ‘polycrises’ or ‘wicked problems’ impact upon the daily lives of millions of people across the globe. Environmental, financial, security, diplomatic, political and military concerns all pose acute problems of knowledge and understanding, require individual and collective action, and raise questions around duties and rights for addressing multi-faceted complex problems.

Philosophical reasoning can play a key role in helping individuals, politicians, states and societies navigate these challenges, and in shaping and critiquing the principles for taking action. In this module you will actively work on developing your own philosophical contributions to addressing global crises, studying topics which may include:

• Themes from social epistemology, including the difficulty of creating shared knowledge in the face of societal challenges; institutions for scrutinising as well as disseminating knowledge claims; the need for diverse perspectives on so-called wicked problems, and also the challenges of combining and reconciling these.

• Themes from the philosophy of collective action and metaphysics, including the ways in which human beings can cooperate outside of formal institutions and create new institutions to address societal and international problems, as well as problems of diffuse responsibility amid complex or changing social structures.

• Themes from political philosophy, such as the difficulties and strengths of democratic institutions and the compromises they require; the challenges of reconciliation and institution-building after war and conflict; the challenges democracies face in light of populism, authoritarianism, corruption in the democratic process, and problems of disinformation.

Over the course of this module you will learn how different philosophical approaches can help us to think our way through our own responsibilities in these times, offering different perspectives on the various roles we can play in surviving, and even flourishing, in times of global crisis.

Engage with cutting-edge philosophical research, working with an academic philosopher on the topic of their live philosophical project and expertise. In this module you may be:

• Reviewing and critically commenting on the chapters of a manuscript

• Reading an academic’s recent publications and coming up with further questions and challenges to build on their ideas

• Discussing your module supervisor's new research and it's relevancy to contemporary philosophical debates

In student-led and discussion-based workshops you will present your own summaries and arguments, take part in guided debates, and work on the challenge of your final written piece: a paper which is not only informed by, but may itself eventually inform, current debates within the discipline. In doing so you will be joining the practice, shared by all professional philosophers, of contributing to the understanding and development of the field itself.

The specific question/s you will work on will vary year by year, but will be drawn from the interests and expertise of Lancaster's philosophy staff. They might include, for example:

• What is the best life for a human being

• What do psychiatric diagnoses mean

• What is personhood and what entities can be persons

• How can we respect human autonomy while making public policy

• What can combatant experience teach us about the ethics of war

One or more options will be offered each year.

In studying this module, you will deploy the skills you have developed in the first two years of your degree, gain in-depth knowledge of an important area of contemporary philosophical inquiry, and further sharpen skills in argument and critique – critical skills for both postgraduate study and a range of post-study careers.

Engage with a significant philosophical text or collection of texts, working with an academic philosopher on the topic of their live philosophical project and expertise. In this module you will:

• Read deeply

• Develop interpretations

• Make reasoned assessments

• Find and engage with secondary literature

• Contribute to contemporary understanding and critique of your text(s)

In student-led and discussion-based workshops, you will present your own philosophical interpretations and arguments, take part in guided debates, and work on a portfolio of critical readings. In doing so you will be joining the practice, shared by all professional philosophers, of contributing to the understanding and development of the field itself.

The specific text(s) you will work on will vary year by year, but will be drawn from the interests and expertises of Lancaster philosophy staff. They might include, for example:

• Work by philosophers whose work had, and continues to have, major impact, such as Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill, Hannah Arendt, J. L. Austin, or Iris Marion Young

• Work by significant contemporary philosophers such as Miranda Fricker, Peter Railton, Martha Nussbaum, or David Lewis

• Work from within a specific philosophical tradition, such as classical or modern Chinese philosophy, or work by nineteenth-century women philosophers.

One or more options will be offered each year.

In studying this module, you will deploy the skills you have developed in your first two years of study, gain in-depth knowledge of an important area of philosophy, and further sharpen your skills in reading, interpretation, and thoughtful response – critical skills for both postgraduate study and a range of post-study careers.