A question for those writing novels

If you signed up to take a course on Basics of Writing a Novel and the instructor had you watch two different MOVIES during the 8-week course, would that rub you the wrong way?

I use WITNESS to demonstrate story structure right now. (I know, some of you have taken the course, and I’ll be interested in your responses.) I once had a woman quit because she didn’t sign up to learn how to “write movies” so I’ve always been aware that some students might not understand why I do this, even though I explain in class. But I find it easier and more approachable to ask a class to watch a movie the week before we discuss plot (so that we all have the same images and events and character issues, etc. for illustration) than to ask them to go home and read a book that week. I also think it’s near impossible to come up with a book to assign that everybody would enjoy, while most people like Witness well enough, plus there’s the time issue — 112 minutes (film) vs. several hours (book).

So I do that and assume that students understand why, and it does seem to help when we start talking about elements of story. In fact, being able to refer back to WITNESS and some of the situations and characters in later weeks is a benefit throughout the course.

Let’s face it — just in general we are all more likely to be familiar with the same movie and television characters than those in books, no matter how popular the book. My references to books such a the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Charlotte’s Web are as unfamiliar to some of my students as references to The Accidental Tourist and oh — any title I can name. I can’t think of a single title that is easily known by everybody, even when you get down to folk tales and stories (David and Goliath sometimes doesn’t get the spark of recognition I’d have expected, since the reference is so widely used. People understand the concept, but don’t know/recall the story.)

So okay, I tell people to watch Witness. BUT I’m thinking of adding a second movie assignment for later. I haven’t decided — I need to watch it again myself to decide — but the chapter on Characterization in Writing the Romantic Comedy and its breakdown of the characters and relationships in Tootsie is so terrific, I’m already wanting to cite it as an example in reviews I’m doing for people who aren’t writing romantic comedy at all.

So, would you be annoyed if you were asked to watch two movies (not during class — at home) as part of a noncredit class on writing novels?