11 Movies Every English Major Should See At Least Once

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.

Watch it here.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Watch it here.

Or watch the "Redux" edition with 49 minutes of extra footage here.

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.

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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.

Watch it here.

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.

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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.

Watch it here.

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.

Watch it here.