The Jungian Moment

 "Jungian archetypes are a concept from psychology that refers to a universal, inherited idea, pattern of thought, or image that is present in the collective unconscious of all human beings." Wiki.

Noting the passing of Raquel Welch.

The checkout guy at King Soopers is something of a science fiction aficionado. Since I am not - Star Trek and the first three Star Wars notwithstanding - much of a sci fi fan, when he talks, I generally nod and agree. It's patter, anyway, something to pass the time while he scans the food items I've selected.

Last week, he asked if I'd seen Fantastic Voyage, the movie where a crew are miniaturized so they can be injected into a human body. "Was there a remake?" I asked. "I remember the original, from the 60s. And, all I remember is Raquel Welch and her form-fitting uniform."

Of course. I was a tweenager when the movie came out, and that's what had attracted my eye. I wasn't all that different from many of my classmates, I'd imagine. In many of her movies, she was the eye candy, the Jungian archetype known as sex symbol. She was there to be seen, not to deliver memorable and pithy lines to be repeated at opportune times in life. Don't hate - the 60s was a complex and confusing time.

She developed an interesting reputation as a professional, one that her gravitas as a personality allowed in an industry ripe with predators. Someone told her Raquel was too hard for American audiences to pronounce - she didn't care. She refused nude scenes, even as that seemed a rite of passage for women interested in a film career. She starred in a movie with actor (and former Syracuse running back) Jim Brown in which they engaged in a romantic interlude, at a time when laws prohibiting intermarriage between races had only recently been struck down. Her acting skills might be modest (someone remarking that "she can't act from here to there") but her screen presence was not.

I remember her as the mother of a love interest in the movie Tortilla Soup. Her character was outlandishly, if primly, forward in her pursuit of Martin Naranjo (Hector Elizondo), a widowed chef who was, in fact, interested in her adult, single-mom daughter. Ms. Welch's performance was both energetic and overblown, which played nicely against Martin's strong, silent type (and her "daughter's" understated but obvious charm). Toward the end Martin springs a surprise, leading Ms. Welch into a meltdown of epic proportions. A better actor might have played the scene differently, but the flamboyance gave it a comic twist that worked nicely into the film.

Raquel Welch - remarkable personality, memorable actor, film star well into her later years.