Intissar Greene

Asses On Fire

The reclining chair has an uncanny power for expanding its regime throughout the United States.  In 1929, cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker invented the first upholstered reclining chair, naming it “La-Z-Boy” (Making).  In 1940, a competing party, headed by Edward Barcolo, manufactured their version of the recliner - the “Barcalounger” (Company).  Soon, many splinter groups arose and joined the movement by copying and creating generic recliners.  The masses quickly accepted the recliner code of belief; consequently, millions of recliners have deployed themselves into American homes, and more are on the way. 

Approximately 5.5 million United States households plan to buy a recliner this year (2003), resulting in a planned spending of over $3.5 billion dollars (Reclining).  Although this may be good news for the furniture industry, it is bad news for consumers because recliners are unsafe for children and pets, engender obesity, and they are aesthetically challenging.

Recliners are “motion furniture” with mechanisms that allow it to eject a footrest while the back of the chair reclines.  For children under the age of five, this dynamic presents a particular safety hazard.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, received reports that “If a child’s head or neck gets caught in the large opening between the chair seat and the leg rest and the child leans forward, his weight could force the leg rest down.” (Recliner).  This motion results in the recliner closing on the child’s neck, causing strangulation.  Reports to the CPSC of deaths, serious brain injuries, and cuts involving recliner chairs prompted the American Furniture Manufacturers Association to adopt voluntary guidelines to improve recliner safety (CPSC).  These guidelines reduced the opening between the leg rest and the seat, and added a warning label stating that children should not operate or play on the chairs; additionally, the label cautions that recliner chairs remain in a closed and upright position when not used (CPSC Warns).  Despite the 1988 guidelines and warning labels, CPSC continued to recall hundreds of thousands of recliners; injuries persisted, and more children died (CPSC). 

One may argue that the awful accidents and injuries caused by recliners are a result of poor adult supervision and not a direct result of the recliner chair itself.  However, its design does lend itself toward safety concerns – concerns that may prove grave because not all households practice proper child supervision.  Additionally, the safety guidelines are voluntary; recliner manufacturers are not legally obligated to comply, and some do so only after tragedy occurs.

The same safety hazards recliner chairs present for humans also apply to pets.  Cats are at risk because they may “go underneath these chairs as a hiding or resting place”, catching themselves in the mechanisms (Pet).  Moreover, small pets have the ability to enter the scissor-like footrest supports; consequently, activating the chair will sever the pet.  On the other hand, is pet injury due to recliner chairs frequent or realistic?  Yes.  Care information for small animals ranging from Chihuahuas to the exotic Gambian pouched rat include instructions specifically regarding recliners; in fact, ferret aficionados suggest that one “remove this item altogether from the environment” because “many a pet has lost its life by being suffocated when the chair is reclined” (Concolor)(Environment).  Furthermore, pets typically do not get the same level of supervision offered to children, and this may put them at an even greater danger from recliner chairs.

Recliners are comfortable; this creates problems.  Usually aimed at a television, the recliner may allow the individual several hours of being comfortable.  This practice can lead toward more overweight and obese people.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that adult obesity “has increased about sixty percent since 1991” (Dubbs).  The Surgeon General reported that in 2001 the economic consequences totaled $61 billion for the health care system, and an additional $56 billion in lost wages (Surgeon).  To tackle this health issue, the report contained eight communication statements addressing the family; four of these statements encouraged individuals to increase their physical activity (Surgeon).  Clearly, “sit-ness” does not manifest physical fitness.  During 2001, increases in consumer requests for broader recliner seats prompted La-Z-Boy to enlarge seat widths by three inches (Dubbs).  As Americans become wider, leaders in the recliner industry expand along with them, fulfilling the recliner’s expansionist doctrine.

Defenders of the recliner are accurate in their idea that the recliner is not making people fatter; instead, it is the individual’s choice to over eat and remain inactive.  Nevertheless, some recliners contain cup holders, remote control keepers, push button activators (in case operating a lever is too much work), vibrators, massagers, and even miniature refrigerators!  Not only is the recliner “comfy”, it has become ingeniously seductive in its attempts to keep us inactive, no matter the consequence.

Even though the recliner may score high for a “Miss Congeniality” award, it is not likely to win any beauty contests.  The recliner earned its image problem by starting out with a hulking design and limited fabric choices.  In fact, the long-lasting durability of the chair only perpetuated its ugly image.  Grainy fabric, patterned with chocolate-brown and orange plaid, may have been fashionable at one time; yet, years later the same chair leaves us aghast.  Industry leaders acknowledged the recliner’s cosmetic faults by offering more fabric choices and redesigning the bulky structure (Evans).  Recently, Mitchell Gold Company totally revamped the recliner design by offering “recliners that do not look like recliners”, going as far as calling them “anti-recliners” (Krause).  Many interior designers agree that regardless of what the recliner looks like, positioning it in a room can lead to further visual discordance since the chair must have disproportionate space to tilt back and set out its footrest (Martin).  Michael Payne, host and decorator for the television show “Designing for the Sexes”, shuns the recliner altogether, maintaining that one will “never find any kind of recliner in a beautifully designed home” (Martin).  Interestingly, recliners are popular with mobile-home households, representing the largest demographic for this year’s (2003) projected recliner sales (Reclining).

Granted, “ugly” and “discordant” are subjective concepts, and not everyone agrees that recliners are ugly.  Besides, ugly or not, recliners that are used to relieve symptoms due to physical ailments are perfectly acceptable since one may categorize the recliner as “necessary medical equipment”.  Even so, the furniture industry’s attempts to disguise it, tailor it, and reupholster it, lead us toward the conclusion that the recliner does have an aesthetic problem.  Sadly, despite all the worthy advances in artistic refinement, some companies proudly push the margin of harmony and form, as evidenced by Jeff Gordon’s NASCAR recliner:

Since 1929, the recliner remains the furniture icon of the proletarian.  A caricature waiting for reinvention and easily adopting itself as an integral part of lifestyle, the recliner seems to transcend the basic definition of “furniture”.  We offer it prime floor space, and it offers us instant gratification.  Nevertheless, instant gratification is not without effect; accordingly, it is in our best interest to reduce the recliner’s negative consequences by not aligning, and not reclining.

 

Works Cited

“Company Information”  Barcalounger.  2001.  15 Apr. 2003 <http://barcalounger.com/info.html>.

Concolor, Jasmyn.  “Gambian Pouched Rat: Enclosures.”  Animals Exotique.  (no date)  9 Apr. 2003  <http://www.animalsexotique.com/gambian_pouched_rat.html>.

“CPSC, Golden Chair, and Allen Manufacturing Announce Recliner Chair Recall”  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  23 May 1996.  9 Apr. 2003  <http://.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/PRHTML96/96130.html>.

“CPSC Warns Parents About Child Accidents in Recliner Chairs” U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  no date.  9 Apr. 2003  <http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5071.html>.

 Dubbs, Dana.  “Furniture Facts.”  Health Facilities Management 14:6  (2001): MasterFILE Premier.  EBSCOhost.  MCC at Red Mountain Library, Mesa, AZ.  11 Apr. 2003.

“Environment” The Ferret Zone.  2000.  9 Apr. 2003  <http://www.FerretZone.com>.

Evans, Gary.  “Recliners: They Only Begin With Bubba.”  Furniture Today  26:16  (2001):  MasterFILE Premier.  EBSCOhost.  MCC at Red Mountain Library, Mesa, AZ.  11 Apr. 2003.

Krause, Joy.  “Recliners: Women Are Warming Up To Them.”  South Coast Today.  22 Jul. 2002.  9 Apr. 2003  <http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/o0-02/06-22/02/b011i063.htm>.

“Making History Since 1927.” Lazyboy Incorporated.  2002.  9 Apr. 2003  <www.Lazyboy.com/about/history.asp>.

Martin, Lisa.  “Recliners Have New Style, Gadgets.”  WWLTV.COM.  13 Mar. 2003.  11 Apr.  2003  <http://www.wwltv.com/cgi-bin/gold_print.cgi>.

“Pet Tips.”  Robinson’s Pet Emporium.  1999.  9 Apr. 2003  <http://members.tripod.com/robinsonspet/pettips.htm>.

“Recliner Chair Recalled by Astro-Lounger Furniture.”  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  26 Dec. 1995.  9 Apr. 2003  <http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL?PRHTML96/96056.html>.

“Reclining Chairs.”  Consumer Buying Trends.  24 Feb. 2003.  11 Apr.  2003  MasterFILE Premier.  EBSCOHost.   MCC at Red Mountain Library, Mesa, AZ.  11 Apr. 2003

“The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity.”  Office of the Surgeon General.  19 Mar. 2003.  11 Apr. 2003  <http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/2_2_1.htm>.