English used to be regarded as an inferior subject when it was first taught at Oxford University in its own right in the very late 19th century. It was only really by the 1950s, possibly partly due to a subconscious desire for post-war certainty about the country's identity, that it started to be regarded as something potentially as worthy as other subjects.
That people are still arguing about whether other art forms such as film or videogames are at least as worthy of study seems bizarre to me. The likes of Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Zelda and Mario games, is an icon (though most other creators don't get enough praise). It's the quality of the teachers and the students that matters.