Saturday.
Labor Day weekend. Storming, rainy day passing through. On the couch watching Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle (1955) and
thinking about man caves.
I
have heard the expression for a few years now, and I even have a partially
developed man cave in league with the basement family room. What I did not
realize was that man caves has gone beyond being an expression.
DIY Network airs Man Caves, Sundays at 8pm. It is a
thirty minute show in the vein of Trading
Spaces, Yard Crashers and other
home design shows, but, as the title suggests, it involves taking a room and
other spaces and turning them into a space for the man of the house. Most of
the converted rooms are basements, and they are turned into football or
baseball themed rooms. These rooms revolve around sports paraphernalia, large
screen television and a sports bar. There are some pretty cool looking layouts.
And as I researched on the
Internet, I found websites dedicated to the concept, or should I say, reality,
of the man cave. The “official” Man Cave site was mancavesite.org, followed by oddee.com,
mybadpad.com and BroBible.com. All these sites had sections and photographs
dedicated to that man space. These rooms are quite colorful and sturdy.
Now, the words man cave may have
been a recent combination, but man caves have been around for a while. The Art
of Manliness website has a historical perspective of “14 Famous Man Rooms.”
Authors Brett and Kate McKay take us into the rooms of Mark Twain, Teddy
Roosevelt, Earnest Hemingway and other men of history. There are some awesome
photos with the article.
All man caves center around themes
of guy stuff and activities where a man can be a man. The colors are bolder.
The furniture is more rugged. The décor are, but not limited to, cars, sports,
and/or hunting mostly. Man caves are not a He-Man’s Woman Haters Club where
Spanky and the boys said, “No Girls Allowed.” They are a place where most men
hang out with their friends. As mentioned above, man caves have some common
elements with large television screens and bars, but must also include seating
for friends and refrigeration for cold beverages.
My man cave, more of an alcove,
includes things that are more my individual focus of being a science fiction
and fantasy fan. Yes, Star Wars is featured, but a charcoal drawing of Worf is
included and two paintings: the Dungeons and Dragons box cover of the early 80s
and the 80s book cover of Thuvia, Maid of Mars. My friend, Scott, has a Batman
collection that dominates his man cave. I guess we have Geek Caves.
Anyway, the only thing really new
about man caves is the current expression itself; they have been around, well,
since the man needed some space of his own back when Neanderthals first hunted,
have evolved into “bachelor pads” and will continue way into the future (see
Captain Kirk’s or Captain Malcolm Reynolds’ rooms).
Speaking of man caves and watching Tarzan,
check out his place, a man cave in a tree. For him, it was a jungle out there.
