DeLillo's White Noise: The Movie

Today my ENG 102 students made group presentations on their casting, setting, and envisioned scenes from chapters of DeLillo's White Noise. While I knew the groups had been enjoying their discussions, the presentations to the whole class generated little discussion. "How did you arrive at casting Russell Crowe (or George Clooney) as Jack Gladney?" I'd ask, or "What made you decide to set White Noise in 2050?", and I didn't get much feedback. But when I said, "Okay, pick one element that you suggested or your group decided on, and write about why you chose to do it that way," the keyboards clack-clack-clacked steadily. They had a lot to say, individually, in writing--more, surprisingly, than they'd had to say in their group presentations and follow-up whole-class discussion.
Any activity that stimulates a copious flow of writing--especially writing with some element of analyzing or interpreting--is worth the time it has taken in class, far better than equal time spent in my lecturing about analyzing fiction and writing argumentative essays embodying that analysis. So I'm really looking forward to reading what came pouring out when I told them to write.