Without a doubt, the positioning of a television in a home is of the utmost importance to the common male.
While the female dreams of French doors, whimsical fabrics and impressive gardens, the male is concerned with just how big of a TV set he can get through the front door. I’ve often witnessed grown men asking delivery guys the common question, “Is it possible for you to remove the door so that we can get this thing inside?”
Granted, guys, we are all college students on a budget, but when we hit the real world, we will definitely be inclined to move our “Sopranos” boxed set from the 20-inch Sansui to the 71-inch wide-screen plasma set.
It is this common thread among us red-blooded men that defines the way we like to receive our entertainment. It may have been born out of the weekend ritual of watching football, but odds are it can be traced back to the days of the caveman.
Simply put, when a man wants to watch TV, he wants his entertainment console square in front of him. So much as tilting his head a couple degrees to the left or right is not acceptable.
I watched some TV on a sharp angle last weekend, and I may need to see a chiropractor pretty soon. Who can find comfort in sitting one way and turning your head another way to watch TV? Why do you think everyone fights for the center seat on the couch?
Angling a TV set is like removing the alcohol from beer–it leaves the male confused and agitated. So you ask, “Why don’t you just turn and face the TV?” It’s a legitimate question with a simple answer.
For those of you who have tried to turn yourself on a couch facing one way, towards an angled TV, you’ve met with that disappointing outcome of having your neck and back lose their support. With nothing behind you to support your tired bones, it becomes a labor to watch even the most entertaining of shows.
The female is a creative breed, though. She will find numerous ways to either hide the TV or remove it from a position where it could be considered a focal point. Why else were armoires and flat-panel TVs covered by picture frames created?
Odds are that most of you have seen this happen to your parents. Often the father, beaming with pride at the purchase of his new HDTV, will meet with quick disapproval from the female, who is concerned the new monstrosity will clash too much with the decorating scheme of the house.
The dejected male is often forced to move the monstrosity of digital circuitry to a basement or den. It just isn’t fair. While most of us are far from this kind of situation, it’s something to keep in mind as you get older.
This sort of problem is nothing new, though. In prehistoric times, the man was forced to move his decorative animal hides and bone collections to the back of the cave because they took up too much room and provided too much of a distraction in the overall living environment.
This same phenomenon is present even at the college level. The living spaces of most females have a TV that is angled or somewhat removed from view, but upon entering a male residence, the set is centered in front of the couch, complete with a DVD player and/or Playstation.
It’s fair to assume TV is not as important to females as it is to males. After all, a majority of programming is aimed at the male audience. Sports and violent series are the kinds of entertainment that are geared toward men. Granted, there are those crossover females who cheer with ferocity at football games and are fans of the old “Hitchhiker” series.
Although my time for watching TV has been severely limited since the beginning of fall, I have always been and always will be an avid fan of television.
Out of my love for the entertainment medium, I began to notice the differences of television orientation at the houses and apartments of friends and family. It became very clear to me very quickly–there are people who just don’t get the way an entertainment system should be set up.
One day, all of you who watch TV will find yourself in a situation where the décor of your house and the thoughts of your significant other will stand at odds with your dream television. Hold your ground and resist the pressure to move that TV out of your comfort zone or to a place that is as remote as a deserted island. Now, what to do about those flowered fabrics
