HEAD-TO-HEAD: Was Bennett Miller sexist at the Letterman Lecture?

Alumnus David Letterman came to Ball State with filmmakers Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller on Nov. 30 at John R. Emens Auditorium. The three discussed making it in the industry. Jonze and Miller also directed a scene Letterman had done early in his career with two Ball State theatre students. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY
Alumnus David Letterman came to Ball State with filmmakers Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller on Nov. 30 at John R. Emens Auditorium. The three discussed making it in the industry. Jonze and Miller also directed a scene Letterman had done early in his career with two Ball State theatre students. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY

When the conversation during the Letterman Lecture on Nov. 30 turned to the lack of women directors in Hollywood, things got a little tricky. Guest Bennett Miller fumbled over his response and ended up citing that men are far more likely than women to commit murder (however that relates to directing films). 

Some on social media immediately called him out for being sexist, while others didn't think it was a big deal. 

What do you think? Two of our columnists went head-to-head on the issue. 


YES! Miller was being sexist.

Samantha Stevenson said: I couldn’t have been more excited for David Letterman to come to Ball State. He’s that alum that you brag about to your friends who picked the school that your entire high school went to. “Oh, yeah? Well, I go to the school David Letterman went to.” Sitting in John R. Emens Auditorium last Monday, this bragging right was real, onstage and doing the thing I looked up to him for: interviewing. I couldn’t wait to see just how easy it is for him to make the conversation flow. But when Letterman asked his guests about sexism, I was surprised by how quickly the conversation stopped ...

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NO! There's no easy solution.

Anna Bowman said: I know there’s been a lot of chatter about Bennett Miller’s “sexist” reply to David Letterman’s “women in filmmaking” question during last Monday’s Letterman lecture, so I’d like to add my voice to the conversation.

I’m a feminist, and I’m also a woman in the filmmaking industry. And I don’t think Miller was being sexist at all. Here are the facts as I see them ... 

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