GLADIATOR with Maynard Okereke, The Hip Hop M.D.

Did you ever imagine that a conversation about film, pop culture, and educational science could be so engaging? We certainly couldn't, until we invited the effervescent Maynard Okereke, the hip-hop MD, onto our show. This episode is infused with Maynard's contagious energy as we explore the impact of film, pop culture, and stagecraft on the world of science education.

Imagine a crossroads where the film Gladiator meets professional wrestling and scientific discovery. It's here that we find ourselves discussing the complex character of Maximus, his motivations, fears, and the dramatic parallels with WWE. We explore the power of the right platform to initiate meaningful change, symbolized by Maximus, Gladiator's protagonist. This rich tapestry of discussion encourages us to reflect on the power of entertainment and its potential to foster enduring learning experiences.

Maynard takes us on an exhilarating journey through his unique approach to science education, combining hip-hop, comedy, and entertainment. Remember the iconic scene in Gladiator when Maximus makes his dramatic reveal to the Emperor? We revisit this high-tension moment, discussing the audience's mix of fear, anticipation, and how such scenes create lasting educational experiences. So, take a seat, and let us entertain, educate, and inspire you in this fascinating episode of the Film Nuts Podcast.

Check out Maynard on Ada Twist, Scientist!

Transcript

Taylor D. Adams: 1:25

Hi, I'm Taylor and welcome back to the Film Nuts podcast, a show about why we love what we watch and speaking of things we love. We all love comeback stories, right Witnessing someone overcome the odds and surpass obstacles. It creates this vicarious experience, leaving us feeling accomplished and satisfied at seeing a hero's journey unfold. The story itself can be versatile, from sports comedies to sci-fi romances to epic dramas. Gladiator is one of those comeback stories, directed by Ridley Scott. The tale of a fallen general turned slave who seeks revenge on the evil emperor who murdered his family and mentor is a film about surviving the odds. That really connected with my guest today.

Taylor D. Adams: 2:13

Maynard Okereke, better known as the hip-hop MD, is a science communicator and host of the hip-hop science show Digital Platform For Maynard, stories of characters overcoming any adversity relate to his own struggle of belonging and finding his own path. Maynard and I chat about finding connections between education and pop culture, his love for professional wrestling and can maggots effectively prevent a wound from getting infected? Lots of fun stuff in there. So at my signal, unleash hell. Here's Maynard Okereke talking about Gladiator on the Film Godz Podcast An expert and fan of science and all things bugs. How effectively can maggots clean a wound?

Maynard Okereke: 3:06

Ooh, that's a great question. It's funny because I've actually had a video that I've been working on, not specifically about maggots, but there was a big research study that has happened around early last year of chimpanzees actually healing each other's wounds using insects. It was the first study behavior of this social dynamic within animals, of them having empathy and also being able to treat others' wounds and seeing others in pain and being able to actually apply medical care, which was pretty cool. But they actually used insects to be able to do that, like flies and other things that they normally eat. They'll chew them up and then they actually physically apply them to the wounds. And it's pretty crazy because like, yeah, you think about maggots and kind of that historical thing and I think that actually came out.

Maynard Okereke: 4:03

I don't know the early, early origins of it.

Maynard Okereke: 4:05

I'm sure there was probably some ancient origins, but I know medically it became a big thing in the early 19th century and then, especially during the war times, to be able to apply maggots to the wounds, to be able to eat the damaged, infected flesh and also to prevent bacterial infections as well too, and I think to this day it's actually still a medically like a clinically approved procedure.

Maynard Okereke: 4:30

So hospitals all across the globe and even here in the US, for patients that actually can't have surgery because there are some people that have medical reasons why they can't have surgical procedures done, or people with certain or specific conditions they'll actually use maggots to be able to clean out some wounds for places that are still out of town. And it's actually a real thing it does. It does work to a certain extent. To a certain extent. For sure, it's not going to completely patch up a wound and clean up everything, but there are. There are definitely medical cases where you can use maggots to help clean out the infected and damaged or dead skin to be able to help to kind of invigorate new skin growth.

Taylor D. Adams: 5:12

So it's a real thing.

Maynard Okereke: 5:13

So I wonder, I wonder if my insurance covers that I'm not 100% sure, luckily we have antibiotics and all sorts of different, you know, medical care. You don't have to resort to maggots. It's usually you know, usually a very specific condition or situation that you that you would do that in. But it's a very real thing. It's a real real thing, it can happen.

Taylor D. Adams: 5:34

Yeah, that happened in this movie and I was like I think that's a thing.

Maynard Okereke: 5:37

Like I feel, like I've heard of that before.

Taylor D. Adams: 5:39

And that was a I figured of all the people to want to talk about Gladiator. I had to ask you about this question.

Maynard Okereke: 5:45

It is definitely a real thing, yeah.

Taylor D. Adams: 5:48

So going off of that science man like you're the hip hop MD, like talk to me about what's been going on. How are you? You know you've got a bunch of projects going on. You're a dad. Tell me how you're balancing it all.

Maynard Okereke: 6:00

Yeah, it's crazy man. It's been a blessing. I always tell people like this is not a job for me. This is all stuff that I'd be nerding out already anyway on. And so the fact that I get to, you know, go to different places and travel you know a lot of different, you know schools and work with different organizations like this is cool for me. This is fun stuff. That I get to talk about science every day, because this is what I already talked about before. I was getting, you know, paid to do this work.

Maynard Okereke: 6:27

For those that don't kind of know about my platform, you know, the whole kind of goal for the hip hop science is, like you know, use music, entertainment and comedy to educate on a wide variety of science topics, and I have a background in civil environmental engineering, but I touch on all subjects, everything from biology to space exploration and everything between physics, math, you name it. If there's a STEM related topic, you know I'm all in. But for me it's like I'm passionate about finding ways to be able to make science exciting. Right, because I grew up not really feeling connected to science and not really feeling like it spoke to me and I noticed a lot of people have that, and a lot of people are currently going through that, whether they're in school, and especially for our youth as well, too. We kind of get stuck in these old, monotonous ways of teaching, and, for me, I'm a believer of getting hands on, experience different things and finding applications of science, and so I always love to talk about new things that are happening in science and be able to now interconnect. You know music and entertainment topics, because these are things we consume on a regular basis and to now talk about these in the same light that we talk about new scientific findings. To me, that's like the coolest format to be able to make science exciting, and so that's what I try to do on my science platform is to just really make science fun and entertaining. So there's anybody out there that's looking for interesting STEM engagement or workshops or speaker sessions.

Maynard Okereke: 7:55

I do everything from talking about. You know my big mantra, which is curiosity, is nature's PhD and how I've kind of used my own curiosity to learn so many different things about the world around me. I love sharing my love and my passion for science and entertainment to different audiences, especially now that I got a baby girl. It's super cool, because now it's like I mean, I've already been working with schools and you know, doing outreach work for elementary schools and youth, and so now it's like I get to share science things with my, with my baby girl, and you know so I'm excited to watch her grow and develop and get to an age where she can actually go out and explore with me and I could take her on trips. But I get to show her different shows that I'm on and cartoons that I've done and stuff. So it's cool now being able to share the love of things I've been sharing with others, to now share it internally with my daughter. So that part has definitely been exciting.

Taylor D. Adams: 8:47

That is so cool. Yeah, and you mentioned that you're you've been on a recent cartoon, a Netflix cartoon, right?

Maynard Okereke: 8:54

Yeah, yeah, eight of eight of twist scientist. It's on Netflix. It's a season four now. I'm on a couple episodes of that show, which is really cool. It's a cartoon show but they bring in kind of real life scientists and they actually show them visually and we'll we you know for the episodes that I'm on actually do some fun little hands on science experiments that kids can try at home, and it's a great show on. It showcases representation in STEM, because you have the, you have a black girl as a lead and her group of friends and it's it's a really cool way to be able to show how you can use science to solve a lot of different real world problems and they have different challenges that they, that they face every episode and then they use science to solve it, and so it's a really cool program and I'm super happy to be a part of it and it's been really doing well. So it's cool to be part of a show that's do that successful and also making an impact for sure.

Taylor D. Adams: 9:48

Yeah, very cool. So, yeah, speaking of make an impact, like you, how did you get to? What sparked the idea of launching this social media platform you have with hip hop science, hip hop MD, like what started it all.

Maynard Okereke: 10:04

Yeah, for me it was. It was kind of a lot of different circumstances that led up to the pop. It was never like a goal I never set out to. I'm going to become I'm going to become the science communicator. I didn't even know what science communication was when I started doing this work. It was something that I literally just fell into. But I'd always had a passion for science. Science was always a love of mine.

Maynard Okereke: 10:27

I grew up loving wildlife, wanted to be a wildlife biologist, ended up going to school and getting talked out of wildlife biology and people were like no, you need to go where the money is at, you need to study engineering. And so I ended up getting to the engineering fields, but at the same time I was always into music and entertainment. That was, I love being in front of camera, I love performing, and so all throughout high school and into college I was working as an artist. So I was, I was recording, I was recording working on different album projects. I was songwriting for other artists, producing songs as well too, and then eventually started getting to a lot of on camera work and started doing like stage theater and getting to commercial work as well too.

Maynard Okereke: 11:05

So I was doing that while I was in college and then, after I got out of college and graduated and it was working professionally, I was doing a lot of entertainment work on the side and it really just kind of got to a point where I felt like I was living kind of two separate lives. Right, I was. You know, I was I was a scientist here doing engineering work, working on all these crazy high infrastructure projects and as my role as a project engineer, but then on the other side, you know, I'd leave work and I'm out at a show, I'm out in the studio and recording and working on our projects and promoting and doing all these different things. And it was like these two contrasting worlds that I was living in that I couldn't really share about each other in different spaces. You know I could. I was at work I'm not talking about my album projects and things and I working on all my co-workers and then vice versa.

Maynard Okereke: 11:51

And I'm in the studio. I'm not talking about this. You know, this project that I got to build and we've got to wait for this concrete to cure. On this I'm not just like it was like two like weird contrasting planes that I was in, but for me it was perfectly normal because it was I was just doing things that I loved and I was passionate about. But it kind of came to a point where I wanted to be able to live kind of that full truth. You know, like you know, just symbolically and just be me, my true kind of authentic self, and not feel like I had to put on. Like you know, I felt like I was kind of like Superman. You know, superman, clark Kent.

Maynard Okereke: 12:26

I was kind of switching modes all the time, and so I'd already kind of done the kind of the whole path of going to school, getting the job, working professionally, but I had never really put my full time into entertainment work and so I ended up resigning and just kind of took a leap of faith and moved it the whole leap to LA to pursue entertainment and I thought, hey, give it a chance, see what happens. And while I was doing entertainment work out here, you know I was still staying connected to science and still nerding out a lot of different topics and the hip hop science platform really came about as kind of this random sketch comedy idea. I was doing a lot of like comedic work out here and creative content on social platforms and everything, and I kind of came out with this character that was me right, this kind of nerdy quirky that was into music and entertainment and would talk about science and like inappropriate situations and it was just kind of this humor like. It was just kind of this funny quirky character that ended up becoming the hip hop MD and it started doing the kind of random fun videos where I dropped science facts in different situations and one thing led to another, just kind of snowballed. I started putting out more content. A couple of videos kind of took off and did really well and I started seeing that people were actually connecting with the content and connecting with what I was sharing.

Maynard Okereke: 13:42

As far as the knowledge, people were like, oh, I'm actually learned something from that, even though it was like crazy, like you know humor, I actually walked away feeling more knowledgeable, you know, and kind of one thing just led up to another and before I knew it I was doing this whole educational outreach platform and kind of sharing my love of science with others and doing exploratory trips and everything between and for me, once I really set that goal of like, hey, I want to be able to kind of inspire the next generation and get people excited about science in a unique way that I was excited about it, that's when everything really clicked and it made sense and I've been definitely blessed with a lot of great opportunities for people that have supported my platform and incredible people start seeing other people like me that were in the same position doing this work and built a kind of a whole huge community.

Maynard Okereke: 14:32

And so that's what I do now as a science communicator just kind of literally fell into it just by really trying to find a way to combine these two things that I was passionate about. That's awesome.

Taylor D. Adams: 14:42

Have you ever? Have you ever just yelled? Are you not entertained? Yeah?

Maynard Okereke: 14:48

That was, like my class always been like my classic quote in everything, right, especially like when you explain that. And you know I'm also, you know I was also big in sports and everything and you know I used to run track and hoop and play football and all that stuff and you know I was that trash talker. I didn't really have the skill necessary to back it up but I could talk, you know. And yeah, are you not entertained With always being kind of my? My classic quotes anytime, anytime I was killing it and anything. And even now you know saying you get, you get, I get, I get on my, I get in my bag. Sometimes I'm doing great work. You're not entertained. I always think I'm doing and so, yeah, that's always. I think that's a classic line, I think that's kind of, you know, even for people that probably had never seen the movie, I think that's always a line that sticks with people. You know what I'm saying, because we're just iconic moments. Yeah, we're just iconic moments, you know.

Taylor D. Adams: 16:19

Outside of that line. Why do you love this movie gladiator?

Maynard Okereke: 16:25

It's a great question. I think, for me, like watching glad, because it's crazy, now think about it like it's what been over 20 years. Yeah, I was, like gladiator came out and so I think, for me, watching it early on, I'm always, I'm always big. I guess it starts from kind of the type of movies that I love. Right, I'm a, I'm a big, I'm big into natural disaster movies and I'm also big into kind of like old mythology, monster kind of fusion movies as well, and like in war movies and like gladiator was kind of a combination of everything, right, but but at the same time there was that, that there was kind of that. That that that grand, yes, kind of symbolic, like you know, did overly determined Over the term, overly determined like protagonist right in the film. So I'm that's gonna overcome any challenge and overcome any off-school that he's faced.

Maynard Okereke: 17:28

And I'm always big into like epic journeys.

Maynard Okereke: 17:30

You know I'm saying like whenever that main character goes through an epic journey to reach his final goal, like those are the type of things that that's always sit with me and kind of resonate with me, because that's I think that's always been my life.

Maynard Okereke: 17:43

It is always kind of scraping and clawing to reach an ultimate goal and finding obstacles along the way. And so, whenever you can like, shape that into an iconic format where you can be able to tell a story and have so many different Layers within and have so many deep rooted characters that have like flaws within them as well too. I think that's another element, like there's so many different flawed characters within the movie, right, maximus himself he's flawed in his unique ways, commodist and, you know, made a tag attack in this in the movie. He's a lot that everybody has, these unique flaws that shape their characters and the character development in the movie and all those different Pieces of that storytelling and leading up to that were so iconic and I'd say I think for me that all of that, all those little storylines and all those little subplots, sat with me, just resonated with me because it just told an iconic and epic story.

Taylor D. Adams: 18:38

Hmm, so what kind of I guess, yeah challenges Maybe. What kind of challenges did you face growing up that you maybe looked at Maximus nearly yeah, that dude can overcome whatever I'm going through, xyz or whatever like that Mm-hmm.

Maynard Okereke: 18:55

Yeah, I think. I think for me there was there was a lot of. I struggled early on, kind of like I was first generation In the US, you might, my mom's size from Cameroon and my dad's size from Nigeria. I was raised in Cameroon when I was younger so I came back to the States when I was about, because I left early, when I was just a couple months old and I came back to the States when I was about five years old and kind of had to kind of get reintegrated into you know American culture and everything, and for a long time that I felt I always felt disconnected. You know, I always felt disconnected because I had very strong, like in the West African roots and so overcoming that in school, you know learning, you know learning English and all these different things, like there was always that tie that I had back home and I think that affected a lot of you know, just my curiosities and a lot of different things, I think innately. That's why I kind of fell in love with science One, because I was always into nature, you know, and being immersed in it at early age. That's something I connected with early on. But at the same time too, I was like in a space. Now we're now being in the States, there are so many different options and so many different things to do and I was being exposed to so many new things that I wanted to try so many new things right, and I think that's why music as well really sound me and resonated with me in a unique way.

Maynard Okereke: 20:20

But I'd never, but I always never felt Included. You know, like I came to, like I was, soon as I came back to South, like, and I was, I was dreading, you know, spend most my time in the Northwest between like Vancouver, vancouver, washington, portland, oregon, eventually to Seattle Racially always kind of felt disconnected because I was only like one of a handful of, like black students, you know. So I never really like found a community Within the areas that I was in and I never looked. I've never felt I looked at the part in any kind of situation that I was in and that led all the way in going into college and kind of that whole juxtaposition we talked about earlier of being into music and entertainment but also loving science. Right, I always felt my whole life I was always leading Contrasting lives and for me that was always challenging, trying to find my own voice and trying to find who I was and being confident in sharing that with other people.

Maynard Okereke: 21:15

It definitely took a while for me to be able to get to that point, you know, and and that that journey for sure is, you know, definitely something that I feel I connected with Within the movies and within the, within the type of movies that I'd like to buy talked about. You know, that epic journey of discovery, right and and fighting this kind of crazy uphill battle Always kind of felt, you know, always always have that underdog mentality of where I know like, where my like greatness could be, and I'm gonna try to do everything I can do to be able to reach that, while also staying true to who I am. And, you know, trying, you know, trying to maintain, you know, obviously you know great moral values and things that within that and I think that was Another cool layer I loved about the movie was that dynamic of exploring, you know, your own morality and like, loyalty and all these different elements, while also trying to overcome and seek revenge in a way, you know like so.

Maynard Okereke: 22:15

So there's always that kind of dynamic Because I'm out, you know, I think we all kind of do that, we all you know, in regards of what we're trying to do in your lane as well, too. Right, you like, you're always trying to be the best you can be at your craft and your and your skill set and magnify Everything that you can do, and so that's something that I always try to Aspire to, and so I think that definitely resonated with me as well in the movie.

Taylor D. Adams: 23:30

So do you remember the first time you saw this movie and, if so, can you remember and describe that experience, maybe?

Maynard Okereke: 23:38

I don't, I don't know if I remember necessarily like the the first time that I saw it per se. I Mean I know around kind of around the time that I saw it. But it was kind of one, those movies too, that you want you after you, you, because you know it was. It was such a classic hit rights, and then you watch that movie over and over again.

Maynard Okereke: 24:00

Yeah and each time you kind of find new things within it, you know, and so I think I watched it a lot Early on when it came out, because I was always kind of finding new things within it to connect with. But I knew I, you know I talked about a little bit about the at the journey of everything, the dynamic of the characters, and now I'm always a villain fan. Like in every movie I got I'm always a villain, like villains resonate with me as well too, because, because it's a you have to if movie can be great unless your villain is great. You know, especially if you're any action kind of bad or move like, your villain has to be top-notch, and I like Joaquin Phoenix's performance as Commodus in that movie. It's like that's still one of the bust, like all time, like just acting performances If you're very good.

Taylor D. Adams: 25:34

He's so good at being a terrible person.

Maynard Okereke: 25:36

He's so good, he's so good and you see that later on and you know him playing Joker and everything like that. Like he's he just has, like it's the, it's the eyes and it's the mouth. And you know me good being an entertainment and stuff. You know I like now I watch movies and I'm always kind of looking out for things like that and I'm sure you do that as well too. Right, filming you could always tell people that habits.

Maynard Okereke: 25:58

You know there's some people that have it on camera that are very connected in the moment Versus others. You know that aren't comfortable or you know like, and so you can see that dynamic when you're behind the camera and everything like that and Having that experience you know acting and then being behind the camera as well too. You can definitely see those performances and those kind of characters shine and there are so many nuanced layers of his character. You know saying the kind of ancestral love that he had, this sister like the, the dynamic, the dynamic with him and his family, him wanting to be loved by the people. You know I'm saying and creating all this propaganda for the people to love him. You know and share she's. You could tell that he had daddy issues right there was like all these different layers.

Maynard Okereke: 26:43

Now we're within that, you know, and and he and the quivering moments where it's lips with quiver and he'd be terrified, but then he's trying to like prove himself, even the last battle, that that was one of the iconic scenes, like in the last, you know, the battle where he's like I'm gonna fight, I'm gonna fight Maximus

Maynard Okereke: 27:36

He really believed that he had it like he had a check, a chance to win. He wanted so that even though you know obviously cheated you know to to get there. But like that kind of crude Dispute, like that kind of crude Unwavering like faith and in your own ability because of how high you think you are, yeah, he showcased all of that well and so yeah. So I'm always a big fan of villains and so that that had one of the best villain roles in it, for sure.

Taylor D. Adams: 28:03

Yeah, oh yeah, it was I think I I. I describe it as wiener face, like I just want to punch you like. Couple actors that just have it and they're really good at it. I'm gonna say I just want to punch you like I know you're doing a good job but yeah, no, that's, that's the best.

Maynard Okereke: 28:19

Like if you, yeah, if you see, if, yeah, some of these performance makes you angry about that kid.

Maynard Okereke: 28:24

They put on a good performance, like that's like you know, that's, that's what, just that's what a movie is supposed to do, is supposed to move you, yeah, and yeah you're supposed to impart some of, evoke some emotion within you, and he definitely did that. For sure. You walk away hating it and then feeling if, and then feeling even more glad about Seeing Maximus's journey to, to, to get to that point and finally get his revenge. You know, it made all that sweeter because you hated that character so deeply.

Taylor D. Adams: 28:52

Yeah, does does your look for this movie go along with your WWE obsession? I?

Maynard Okereke: 29:00

Don't know if I call it obsession. I don't know if it's obsession, but I'm a huge WWE fan. I got my. I got my intergonal nendle championship belt sitting over here on the wall. I'm a huge WWE fan and like yeah, I mean I think in any and I think any as it being an athlete as well too like you always are going to seek those moments of like you know, ultimate performance and being in a center stage and putting on a show and anybody that watches WWE Right, you get it. Like I know it's not real, like the whole, like Katamantra be like.

Taylor D. Adams: 29:35

Whenever I hear I mean middle school me was convinced it was real.

Maynard Okereke: 29:41

I mean, I think it out pretty early on that it wasn't real, like this was like that. But you know, like it's it's performances, it's before it's it's it's it's performance entertainment, you know. And so whenever I hear people are like man, you watch me. You know it's not like we get it, it's not real, like we're not. So we're not 10, 12 years old anymore.

Maynard Okereke: 30:00

But there's, I always tell people WWE is kind of like male soap opera. No way you get, you get lost in these characters and these different story lines and different things that are happening and the actually in ring battles are just, are just a small portion of it. The part that really intrigues you is these dynamics. You know these rivalries that set up Teamwork, things are going on behind the scenes, kind of to build up the journey of these characters as well too. So in that sense of like me being a person that loves storylines and loves development of characters, having, yeah, that that love for WWE does make me appreciate, you know, certain performances and certain things. You know iconic things like that, like you know the movie of gladiator. In that sense of like yes, we're here to entertain, but we're also putting on a show and we're also developing this story that you can get lost into all these different layers. So so that aspect for sure I connect with it.

Taylor D. Adams: 31:02

How much do you think that people I mean it probably depends on the person, but how many people connect with things like WWE or, in ancient Rome, people who actually went to gladiator battles, like? How much of it do you think is? My lizard brain wants to see violence and also I'm really rooting for this character that has been crafted before me.

Maynard Okereke: 31:28

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think there's a, I think there's a healthy mix of both, right, I think I think that's natural, human nature to want to see vibe. That's, you know, because people love. You know, people love football. And why do you love football? We love football for the hard hits and and, and you think about all the rules. Now they're sitting football where you can't, you know, can't hit the quarterback every.

Maynard Okereke: 31:50

Look like is that's not fun, nobody wants to watch, you know. Right, that's why, that's why flag football isn't a mainstream sport, right, because you want to see the violence. There's a love for seeing somebody get disbounded, you know, obviously, you want that person get up. You're not wishing for death or injury or anything like that, but you want to see like people go after it. And even in basketball, right, obviously it's not an impact sport like football, but there's something to be said for Players and athletes that you can tell they're hungry and they're fighting and they're doing anything they can to win in that sense. And so I think that's natural, a human characteristic. That's why we love action movies and war movies. We want to see things blowing up. You know, fan, you know the what's the Fast and furious, right, I think, what their fast and furious 10 or 11, now that they're on, it's like every movie. Just like, how much more epic can we make these? These car scenes, big explosions, flying off of buildings, going into space in a car you know like how much crazy game we want that as an audience.

Maynard Okereke: 32:57

I think we naturally want to see Things develop into this, like you know, greater scale, and so, from that sense, you know Watching, you know watching somebody in the ring as a gladiator, that's, that's. That's the same now as us watching a boxing match and watching these two Boxers go at it in the ring and cheering on your, your boxer, and that's why people like Floyd Mayweather, we're very successful. You know, even if you, even if you didn't necessarily like it's in ring ability, you loved his showmanship, you loved everything that he did to kind of make you hate him in a way, and you tie that in with the connection of gladiator. You know, though, you know that that that there was, that I caught it. The one of my other favorite scenes in that movie Was was before the you're not entertained line, right when they're telling like all you do is kill, kill, kill. You need to put on a show. You need to entertain this crowd Like that's, that's what they want.

Maynard Okereke: 34:29

that's what the audience clamored to was kind of his Kind, of his backlash in him, kind of just being an asshole in that moment. That's what people actually, that's what people cheered for, and I think that's definitely human nature. We want to find those moments where we connect personally in a way with somebody, and Somebody shows animosity and somebody shows Little zeal, a little, you know, say, like anything in their character. Those are things that we connect with as an audience, and so I think that's still holds true and a lot of different dynamics, you know, within the sports world and then, obviously, within our love for movies as well too.

Taylor D. Adams: 35:09

We've. We've talked about this on the podcast before with a couple other guests, but one of the things that I can kind of See about this is like an equivalent between a Kid reading a book about how a butterfly is born as opposed to you making a video that is entertaining. Describing the process of how a butterfly is formed is the same as like, yeah, maximus can go out there and kill somebody, but, as Proximo says, like you need to entertain them, you can't just go from point a to point B like you have to flourish. I mean, is that? I mean? I just think. I just think it's kind of interesting is that there's there's a certain population out there with they want just the end result, but that's not interesting, right?

Maynard Okereke: 36:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want, you want, you want to tell, you want to tell the details within, right, that that's, that's the part, that's, that's the part that's in that's injured, because, yeah, you can. Then I think we do that in science communication and that's really what I try to do with my platform is not just tell, oh, this is what happened. Explains, explain, kind of, what led to this framework of thinking, what led to why this new method had to be discovered, and that the you know, that context within is the interesting dynamic, because now that's what people can connect with. Now people can be like, oh okay, I used to think this way and this is how this transformed or reshaped itself into this new way of thinking, and that's why it should be important to me and that's why I should care about this new development or this discovery.

Maynard Okereke: 36:53

You know we talk a lot about space and a new space exploration and new dynamics, but we have to talk about it, new dynamics, we have to talk about it in context of what we knew before new discoveries that are made, old projects that were sent out, old things, old ways of doing things and our previous beliefs. We have to have that understanding, that framework and know what led to this new way of thinking, in order to appreciate the innovation, in order to appreciate the development of the technology and appreciate how far we've come now to be able to do the things that we have, and have things like the James Webb Space Telescope and, you know, private, private space flight and all these different things like. There's context that matters within the details and I think it's really important to highlight those for sure.

Taylor D. Adams: 37:41

So in the movie Maximus is initially doesn't happen for a while that he becomes a gladiator like. It's like the 45 is like 45 minutes into the movie we get to actually gladiators. But his like, his initial mission is revenge and avenging his, his murder family. But he eventually gets to the point where he recognizes that, for lack of a better term, he has a platform and he can affect change in the Roman government by basically getting everyone to turn on combat us. You use your platform to encourage diversity in STEM fields. How effective can the right platform be for a particular cause?

Maynard Okereke: 38:22

Yeah, and that, and that's a great observation. Right and I think that's another hidden layer within the movie that really resonates with a lot of people is yeah, as now, as gladiator. Eventually, gladiator is technically a slave. Right in Roman times, gladiators were slaves, so you usually think of slave as being on the bottom of the totem pool. But, ironically, as a slave and being a gladiator and you battling and you putting on a show, you do have a way of now showcasing your skill sets to a large audience of people that are all way higher on the on the on the on the hierarchy scale than you are. But that platform now is for you to be able to entertain this audience and if you can tell your own story unique way, you can do something that's transformative, which is what Maximus ultimately did. And having the right platform is always important. That's why we always talk about making your voice heard and doing everything that you can within your skill set to make your voice heard. But I think it's always important to find the right platform that works for you in your own situation. Obviously, now we have social media, whether it's, you know, twitter, instagram, facebook, youtube. You have all these different take talk. We have all these different, different mediums that we use to showcase our dynamic, and people do it in all sorts of different ways. People do it visually, people do it through audio, people do it through music, people do it through talking one on one, the camera to their audience, people do it in writing, because you can do all these different things as well, too, and all these different skill sets resonate with different people. But I think I always share this in my kind of psychome workshops is that it's really important to find your voice and utilize your voice in the way that's true to you. You know, obviously I do. You know I do a lot of, you know, educational, exploratory videos, and I'm talking to camera and I'm doing demonstrations. All this like you might that might not be you, that might not be your bag of being able to be in front of the camera and talking and being able to engage and maybe have that charisma on camera or what not to be able to talk about a topic. But maybe you, maybe you do better in written format, maybe you do.

Maynard Okereke: 40:36

I know people that do a really cool psychome work, that are just artists that draw and are able to now tell a story through their artwork. You know, visually, people do a lot of creative visual work. You do a may, you do amazing visual work, as yourself, right, isn't that? And that's an and that's an artwork and that's form. That's a platform that you have as well to. You can tell stories through your own platform being visual. You don't necessarily have to be the one on camera to tell those stories.

Maynard Okereke: 41:03

You can develop that content that ends up, you know, being seen by different audiences, and so I think it's always important to find what your voice is and then and then find the strength within that to be able to know what platform is going to now galvanize this community that I'm after in the best way that also suits you. And yeah, I think that was a really cool dynamic within the movie. Was that ultimately? Yeah, he became a voice. He now was able to resonate and inspired a whole community now, even just within the gladiators, but within the government, and how it gave people a new way of thinking like, hey, this isn't the right governmental format that we want to live under, this isn't the type of tyranny that we want our community to be under, and we see that all the time, with no civil rights, protests and all sorts of different things that that people voice their opinions on to try to impact the government, you know, and fighting that right platform, but also honing into your voice while doing that is also important.

Taylor D. Adams: 42:04

Yeah, so you mentioned a couple of your favorite moments and lines, but do you have like a favorite scene from this film? Like it's, the scene starts and you're like, oh you, you lean over, lean over to your partner or your daughter, and you're like, oh man, this is the best part.

Maynard Okereke: 42:20

When he, when he finally, when he finally got to the stadium and performed in front of comedies and audience was going crazy and comedies comes out and he wants him to. He wants him to reveal himself.

Maynard Okereke: 43:16

Because everything is led up to this moment. So you're like, I think, and that there's this level of suspense, you're waiting, like, okay, what's he going to do? How's he, how's he going to like, do this reveal? We've been leading, everything in the movie has been leading up to this moment, and that was just a badass scene to me. It just turns around, it takes off his helmet, maximus, and that that part was so epic one because it was a combination of everything.

Maynard Okereke: 43:45

The audience had fallen in love with him.

Maynard Okereke: 43:47

You'd entertain the crowd, but then you also had that ultimate display of just villainous within comedies as well, to you talked about that. You wanted to knock him out, the fear and the fear in his face, and that scene was so real. Now, those, those just so like the you know, you talk about those moments where, where the tension in the air is like thick, like you felt that tension, that that that build up everything leading to that, that that first encounter was just, was so grand, and you can feel that kind of that, that that tension in the air, and I that to me that was a part that really stood out because was kind of a culmination of every kind of suspenseful moment that you're waiting to lead up and now it's like, okay, what's going to happen? How's he going to eventually get his revenge now that he knows he's alive and he knows he's here, like what's going to happen now? So that to me that was a great turning point in the movie and that's part that. That's one area that always stands out for sure.

Taylor D. Adams: 44:43

Yeah, like you said that, the anticipation, the suspense building up to that, because you as the audience, like you know they've got to meet again at some point. You just don't know when it's going to happen. And then you see it happening and You're just like, and you're seeing everything through the point of view of Maximus. So you're like, oh man, how is he going to handle this? Like, because he's going to go out there and he's going to kick some butt and then he's going to meet the Emperor, and how is this going to go down? And yeah, this like, yeah, it's such a cool scene. I love that scene too.

Maynard Okereke: 45:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, it was, it was, it was pretty epic, yeah, the music and then the audience. The audience is like live, live. You know, it was just the combination of everything. You're just like, oh, you just took it. That part, that part stood out, that put us out for sure. So that was definitely one of my other favorite moments in that movie.

Taylor D. Adams: 45:29

Speaking of the moment where the fans are chanting live, I'm going to see if I can, if I can give you a piece of trivia, because you're one of the smartest guests I've had on the show, so I'm going to try and bring some bring, a little bring a little knowledge bring a little knowledge to this. So in the movie, the thumbs up and thumbs down is actually the opposite of what it was in real life. Did you know that?

Taylor D. Adams: 45:50

Oh, like the thumbs, thumbs down didn't mean thumbs down is live and thumbs up is kill, because people went to see people die, and so the thumbs up signal was the signal for the killing to commence, or the judgment, as opposed to what it is conveyed in the movie.

Maynard Okereke: 46:08

Oh, interesting. Okay, I did not, I did not know that fact, did not know that fact.

Taylor D. Adams: 46:13

Funny enough. This is this movie is. It's it's historical, it's historical fiction. But through my four years of studying Latin, every single year in school we watched this movie and part of it part of it was probably my teacher was, like you know, putting on a movie to like just entertain us for a little bit, but also he would go through and be like it wouldn't happen, like that, it would happen this way. Or he would point something out like yes, that's actually how that happened and all and, yeah, that that's it.

Maynard Okereke: 46:45

Those are areas that I really appreciate within teaching is fighting ways to be able to make connections with something that people are already, you know, already consuming Right, and I do a lot of in a lot of my psychome work I'll make analogies to movies and obviously songs and different things like that.

Maynard Okereke: 47:04

But whenever you're able to make that connection to enter, take that entertainment connection that it's.

Maynard Okereke: 47:09

It's a lasting, it's a more, it's a lasting learning lesson, because now you're always going to think about that whenever that movie comes up or, in a certain situation, comes up. Now you have historical context. You, now you're able to talk about Roman Empire, is able to talk about, you know historical context of different things that happened culturally, religiously, in different times, and those are all elements that just add to your knowledge base and they carry on in different things that you do. You know now, now that glad, now knowing that gladiators say you know that's applicable to so many different historical elements in the future that are built, display, you know, and so there's always cool science learning lessons within movies, and so I always appreciate those moments where, like especially, teachers could bring that out of their students. You know, I kind of grew up in that stage where you know I remember the best, the best days of class, or when you watch in the classroom and then in the TV monitor was, was stated, was it the classroom?

Taylor D. Adams: 48:06

You're like yes, roll the card in. They roll the card in.

Maynard Okereke: 48:10

That was old school days. Old school days roll the card in, and those are always the best days, because you're like, oh yeah, we get to sit and just watch a movie, we don't have to get tired of anything, you know. But but like, ironically, like that would be an awesome moment to teach would be to like, hey, showcase this movie and now, hey, let's talk about this in more detail. What do we learn from this? How you know what was real, what wasn't. You know there's so many different. You know interesting takeaways that you can actually utilize in a classroom lesson format, through movies and through entertainments. And for me, those are the type of connections that I love and that's the type of work that I want to do and try to do in my science communication work.

Taylor D. Adams: 48:50

Yeah, I got. I got one more for you, the. In Latin, the letter V is pronounced like a W.

Maynard Okereke: 48:57

You know that the letter V is pronounced like W.

Taylor D. Adams: 49:00

Yep.

Maynard Okereke: 49:02

So so how the Suvious would be with Suvious, so now with with Suvious Yep, no way, it sounds silly.

Taylor D. Adams: 49:11

It sounds silly. Yeah, it sounds silly.

Maynard Okereke: 49:15

But yeah, that's, yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, see, I wouldn't get, you would never, because you would never. You've never heard it otherwise, you've always heard. It's not like.

Taylor D. Adams: 49:24

I hear because you read it in English and you're like that's a V, it's, it's, you know it's pronounced like this If you ever watched it and somebody was like, oh yeah, not with Suvious, you'd be like, what's wrong with? You. Yeah, it sounds so weird to say, but that's, that's how it's pronounced.

Maynard Okereke: 49:39

Yeah, I'm sure there's a ton of other things like that too, because, I mean, because you always think about we, we always see things in in a kind of American, you know, western, western culture. That's just naturally how we and we apply it to everything you know, and I'm sure that I know there are a lot of you know, like you know, west Indian cultural sayings are much different. You know Pacific Islander sayings are much different, and when you would read them in in the native tongue versus in English, and so yeah, I'm sure that's applicable to a lot of different cultures for sure.

Film: 50:13

Yeah.

Taylor D. Adams: 50:15

Well, Maynard dude, thanks so much for jumping on this chat with me. This has been great, I hope. I was hoping my me taking you away from talking about science for an hour was okay.

Maynard Okereke: 50:26

No, this is. This is this is great. And we still talked about science, right?

Taylor D. Adams: 50:29

That's true. Yeah, we did integrate it back in there, so that's this great.

Maynard Okereke: 50:33

Yeah, there's still scientific connections and everything. So, yeah, this there should never be. This should never be a separation between entertainment and fun, comedy and science. It all, it all blends in together. So this is right in my alley, so I appreciate it.

Taylor D. Adams: 50:51

Attention and admiration inherently come with success. The more you accomplish, the more you are seen. What Maximus comes to realize, and what Maynard already understands, is that when you have that platform in the public eye, you can affect change. So whether you're fighting tyranny in ancient Rome or educating folks about how radioactive contaminants can be removed from the water supply, the message you send has such potential for a positive impact. Embracing that responsibility, I believe, is one of the best ways that you, me, we, whoever can inspire those looking to us for wisdom and guidance. A huge thanks to Maynard for chatting with me today, and a thumbs up or thumbs down whichever one you determine is the good one to you for listening. Please take a look at the show notes for some of Maynard's work, including how you can see him on Ada Twist, a scientist, on Netflix, and connect with him. If you or someone you know is looking for some really dope workshops on STEM engagement, you can also follow him on Instagram and TikTok at hip hop science show. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please, pretty please go ahead and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform of choice and if you happen to be listening on Apple podcasts, go ahead and leave a rating review. It helps us get noticed by more awesome folks like yourself. If you want to help the show grow and get access to some really cool perks, please consider supporting the show on Patreon. You can check out the information for that in the show notes as well, or you can visit patreoncom.

Taylor D. Adams: 52:24

Slash film nuts Our theme this season is brought to us by the deep end. Our artwork is designed by Madunga Sibhudi and all episodes of the Film Nuts podcast are produced and edited by me, teordi Adams. If you want to get in touch, you can email filmnutspodcast at gmailcom or follow us on Instagram, tiktok and Twitter at filmnutspodcast. Don't forget to join the Nuthouse discord community absolutely free by checking out the link in the show notes, and thank you all so much for listening today, and here's hoping the frost never makes your blade stick.