PhD Year 1: What I Learnt

Let’s start with the basics: A PhD (Doctorate in Philosophy) is the highest level of academic certification a university offers. This requires producing original research in a specific field, which upon completion must be defended in front of a panelist of experts. The term dates back as far as Medieval Europe though, at the time, the requirements usually only called for advanced scholarship rather than original research. Even now, requirements for a PhD differ across institutions ad nations but in all cases, original research remains compulsory.  So why do a PhD? I could write a whole post on what to…

View Post

Dark Humour in “Kingsman: Secret Service”

Happy Sunday, everyone! A little bit of academic writing never hurt anyone, so today I’m posting yet another one of my old essays I wrote for a film class back in university. The essay focuses on Kingsman: Secret Service (2014), offering an academic view on the use of dark humour, satire, and self reflexivity in the film, and how it created a successful movie. Enjoy! The British-American movie Kingsman: Secret Service, directed by Matthew Vaughn, is characterized as an “action-comedy spy film”, starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mark Strong. The film both embraces the classical Hollywood…

View Post