I went to cinema again, Friday night; for it was the only cost-friendly way I could entertain Melody, a Kenyan friend in Kigali for a week, in response to the ‘Visit Rwanda’ global tourism campaign; she did the review of what was showing on the night, and Venom was the choice.
For those of you, non-cinema goers, I will borrow Bryan Bishop’s text to give a nice summary of Venom, whose details you can get from his Blog, The Verge (which I strongly recommend, by the way). Anyway, take a read below. In the movie Venom; …
"Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist with his own TV show dedicated to taking down evil corporate powers. (The audience knows Eddie is good at his job because he always reads from a reporter’s notebook while on camera, and he is really serious).
One day, Eddie is assigned to do a piece on the head of The Life Foundation, Dr. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), a megalomaniac tech-tycoon who is basically Elon Musk without a Twitter problem. But Eddie can’t respect boundaries, even in his own personal relationships…
His fiancée Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) works at a law firm that represents Drake’s foundation, and he breaks into her computer to find incriminating evidence then pulls a gotcha at his interview with Drake. As a result, Eddie’s life falls apart: Anne leaves him, he loses his job, and six months later, he’s reduced to looking for dishwashing gigs.
That’s when Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate) approaches him to explain that she works for Drake who is trying to mix humans with a number of alien-life forms called "symbiotes.” Desperate, Eddie investigates and is infected by a symbiote that eventually introduces itself to him as Venom…”
Like Molly Freeman wrote in her review of Venom, the movie ‘is a flawed superhero production only saved by Tom Hardy’s performances as Eddie Brock and Venom which make for a fun and entertaining ride.’ Again, I encourage you to go watch it.
For a reluctant viewer, like myself, all I needed was a memorable one-liner to inspire my writing, the next morning. The line would come from Dr. Jenny Slate, when she is caught by the security guard at an unholy hour of the night, sneaking Eddie into the testing laboratory.
Guard: Dr. Slate what are you doing here at this time of the night?
Dr. Slate: I am a scientist and science doesn’t go to sleep.
It was nice to see that a woman was given the lead role in a laboratory which was at the heart of a big scientific experiment; Dr. Slate was the lead researcher trying to mix humans with alien-life forms to create ‘a superior human design’ in the words of her boss Riz Ahmed.
The problem was, the experiment was claiming dozens of innocent lives of ‘human volunteers’ and Dr. Slate wanted to use the journalistic skills of Eddie Brock to expose the evil work of her boss’ project. She would pay with her own life.
It got me thinking, science needs more women. Some scientific experiments can be quite cruel, and we need ‘scientists with hearts’ to ensure that these processes remain strictly professional and ethical regardless of the significance of their projected outcome.
And, I think that women are capable of achieving the rare balance of being ethical and professional even where fame and wealth are involved, factors known to drive men more than they do, women. Today, science is short of women scientists. And this is a global challenge.
The U.S. Department of Commerce says women filled 47 percent of all U.S. jobs in 2015 but they held just 24 percent of science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs. There are efforts in USA, trying to address this imbalance; something praiseworthy.
For instance, next month, on December 7, the Edison State Community College in Ohio, will host the 13th Annual ‘Women in STEMM’ (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) Expo designed to help boost interest among girls of 8-12 grade, in STEMM careers.
It’s worth noting that at the national level, Rwanda too is concerned; in August, at the National Engineers’ Conference, the Institute of Engineers in Rwanda launched the Kigali Chapter of the global ‘Women in Science’ movement aimed at luring more girls into science-based careers.
At continental level, praise be to the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) which is trying to find the ‘Next Einstein’ at its centers across Africa, in Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
In fact, last Monday, as the AIMS Centre in Rwanda opened its third academic year, it was encouraging to note that 16 out of the 48 students admitted were female, moreover, from 16 different countries, and five lecturers, including two women.
But, as Einstein was a man, Maybe AIMS, should launch a sub-project aimed at finding Africa’s ‘Next She-Einstein’ because studies have attributed the current imbalance to few ‘female role models.’ Food for thought.
Email: kenagutamba@gmail.com.
The views expressed in this article are of the author.