Reimagining Literature: Integrating Cultural, Film, and Multimodal Perspectives for Sustainability

Abstract

Literature, known for its aestheticality, has been a dominant social science and humanities study field for centuries. People believe it helps the students become proficient in language skills (LSRW). Literature’s textual regimentation and the formalist fallacy of the ‘print-centric’ notion started to shake after the intervention of Cultural Studies, known for the ‘anti-literature’ approach. In the post-pandemic period, education has drastically changed because of the online mode of teaching and Artificial intelligence (AI), which shut the capacity of learning in visual and virtual space. Students lost interest in reading books and newspapers, replaced by mobile phone applications and the World Wide Web. The legacy of literature and ‘print’ reading started to decline in the present period. The paper tries to analyse the amelioration of literature and literary studies by including cultural studies, film studies, media studies and digital literature with multimodality for its sustainability. The combination of these studies with literature is not indicative of losing its importance in the 21st century. Instead, it reflects the evolving nature of literary studies and the recognition that literature exists within a larger cultural and media landscape by incorporating new mediums of storytelling. It also offers a broader skill set that appeals to employers seeking critical thinkers with strong communication skills.