Gilded Cage: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:GwenStefaniBehindGoldBars.jpg|frame|[[Gwen Stefani]] is dreaming of being free from this 24 karat prison.]]

 

{{quote|'''Kryten:''' "Sirs, we must not be seduced by all this fine living. However munificent our captor, we are still prisoners. And with every second that passes, we lose yet more ground on ''Red Dwarf''."

 

 

[[Self-Demonstrating Article|Welcome, illustrious guest, to the Gilded Cage resort and day spa!]]

We are honored to entertain your presence, and hope you enjoy your stay. [[Affably Evil|Your patron]] has given us instructions to host you, and has also given us to understand that you are 1) a prominent [[Blue Blood|noble]] in [[Royal Blood|line to the throne]], 2) in possession of sensitive state secrets, 3) a [[I Have You Now, My Pretty|beautiful young lady]] he means to woo, or 4) another upstanding person of import. Rest assured, we will treat you with the very best care by keeping your presence here a complete secret, even to [[True Companions|friends]], [[Thicker Than Water|family]], and your government.

 

 

Because [[We Care]] about your safety, we have provided 24 hour, full week [[Elite Mooks|Elite]] [[Faceless Mooks|ninja bodyguard]] coverage, [[Palantir Ploy|camera]] [[Sinister Surveillance|surveillance]] of every area, titanium reinforced walls and airlocks with [[Deadly Gas|Novichok gas dispensers]], automated [[Gatling Good|30mm Gatling gun turrets]] mounted on walls, [[Cold Sniper|sniper-protected guard towers]], a fleet of interceptor aircraft ready to [[Fighter Launching Sequence|scramble]] and radar-homing surface-to-air missiles with electro-optical backup guidance systems around the resort's perimeter. But don't let our ominous and imposing staff and defenses worry you, they will in no way inconvenience you. All our staff, from [[Meido|maids]] to [[Mooks]], have been [[Brainwashed|"re-trained"]] to never speak to you, and since you will never need it, there will be no news of the outside world.

The best part? You don't need to worry about the bill or checking out! [[Tailor-Made Prison|Ever]]. Or [[Lonely Rich Kid|until your parents]] or patron decide you can leave.

 

 

{{quote|Cordially,|The Management}}

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', the Kuwadorian mansion where 1967 Beatrice stayed fits this trope perfectly. Arguably, the meta-world itself also qualifies for Battler - the surroundings are implied to be quite nice.

* Treize from ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' is confined to a posh country estate after he protests the Romefeller Foundation's decision to use Mobile Dolls.

* The makers of ''[[Code Geass]] R2'' designed Nunnally's garden aboard the airship with this in mind. The garden is incredibly nice and well cared for, but it's also surrounded by a deep, empty moat, with only a single narrow bridge leading to the rest of the ship. Since Nunnally is blind and confined to a wheelchair, this makes it extremely difficult/dangerous for her to leave the garden without assistance.

* The "greenhouse" [[Mysterious Waif|Suu]] was kept in in [[Clover]]. It's quite beautiful, but Suu has to live in complete isolation from the rest of the world, as she is powerful enough to defeat the government officials, and they "don't want that power to fall into the wrong hands."

* Anthy's rose garden in ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' is a beautiful greenhouse sculpted in glass and wrought iron. It also happens to look like a human-size birdcage, which is exactly what Ohtori Academy represents to Anthy.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* ''[[Tintin]] and the Picaros'' has one of these disguised as a country hotel, which Captain Haddock and Calculus are sent to after they accept Tapioca's invitation. It has cameras and microphones hidden all over, and guards who refuse to let guests head into town without armed escort, supposedly to protect them from the Picaros.

{{quote|'''Haddock''': That young whippersnapper Tintin was right! The cage may be a gilded one... but we're well and truly behind bars!}}

* In the ''[[Blake and Mortimer]]'' book ''Atlantis Mystery'', the two main characters stumble upon the titular lost civilization and forced to remain there in order to keep [[The Masquerade]]. Despite not being allowed to leave, they are treated like guests of honor, are given very plush accommodations and even seem to be adapting somewhat until they find themselves targeted by the [[Big Bad]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[Dr. No]]'', the first cell [[James Bond]] and Honey Ryder are put in is like a five star hotel.

* In [[Disney]]'s ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', when Esmeralda claims sanctuary in Notre Dame Cathedral, Frollo invokes this trope almost by name.

{{quote|'''Frollo:''' You have chosen a magnificent prison - but it is a prison nonetheless. Set one foot outside, and you're mine.}}

* In a deleted scene in ''[[Sucker Punch]]'', the High Roller buys Baby Doll from the brothel and he calls the room he puts her in a gilded cage.

 

* The Village in ''[[The Prisoner]].''

* Jack is confined to one of these in ''[[Kings]]'' - along with his [[The Beard|clingy wife]].

* In a third season episode of ''[[Night Gallery]]'' entitled "The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes" newly crowned heavyweight boxing champ Jim Figg is abducted immediately following his winning bout and transported to a luxurious mansion in an alternate dimension. There he learns that he will be well treated but kept a prisoner until after he has fought the owner of the mansion (played by Chuck Conners) to determine who is the real champion of the universe. If he loses he will be transported back to Earth. If he wins he will replace Conners and gain the companionship of Joan Van Ark.

* In the 1998 series ''[[Merlin (TV miniseries)|Merlin]]'', King Vortigern keeps Nimue in a gilded cage, to ensure that her father stays loyal to him.

* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', Janeway's [[Leonardo da Vinci]] holodeck program is "kidnapped" from the ship, and enlisted by Tau, an alien merchant, to design things for him. Janeway attempts to convince Leonardo she is freeing him from Tau's imprisonment. Leonardo, as an artist from Renaissance-era Italy, sees Tau as a wealthy patron with unlimited resources who lets him create to his heart's content, and insists "if this is a cage, it is a cage of gold!"

* The setting of ''[[Dollhouse]]'' comes to mind.

'''Yvonne Hartman''': Oh yes, but we'll make you perfectly comfortable. }}

* The department store for Charles and Ella in the 1966 [[Stephen Sondheim]] teleplay musical ''Evening Primrose''. Ella recognizes it more than he does, however.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** Following the failed Greyjoy rebellion, Theon Greyjoy became Eddard Stark's ward. While Theon had all of the comforts and status of the Stark children and was essentially treated as one of the family, he was still a prisoner being kept to guarantee good behavior from Theon's father. In theory, if Theon's father "acted up" again, Eddard would kill Theon.

* At the end of ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', all the survivors are kept in a resort and questioned about what they saw at the park. It's stated that the Costa Rican government is very worried what could happen if word gets out, and that the two children would be the only ones allowed to leave.

** Apparently they relented, because in ''The Lost World'', Ian Malcolm certainly isn't confined to Costa Rica, and it's mentioned in passing that Dr. Sattler teaches in California.

*** It is mentioned that they had to go through a lot of questioning and had to sign an agreement not to tell anybody about what happened on the island.

* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Firestarter]]'', the rooms Andy and Charlie are placed in when they are captured by The Shop are very comfortable, with good food and television, and are comparable to hotel suites. This is no comfort to the characters, and it is remarked that despite all the luxuries, 'a dog turd covered with frosting is not a wedding cake; it is simply a frosted dog turd.'

* In the first ''[[Gor]]'' book the [[Big Bad]] has an actual gilded cage that he keeps one of his slaves in.

* The space colony with criminal ties named Interchange serves this function in ''[[The Demon Princes]]''. It's an institution designed to hold people who have been kidnapped and held for ransom until someone pays the ransom. Kirth Gersen, who ends up in there temporarily, notes that while it's very comfortable and there's no lack of things to do, the whole atmosphere is depressing as nobody really talks to anyone else. And, you know, they've all been kidnapped.

* This is the entirety of the book ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]''. As magnificent as the adventure is, Captain Nemo ''is'' holding Professor Arronax and his companions captive to keep the secret of the ''Nautilus'' safe. Ned Land certainly doesn't forget it.

* Scarlett of ''[[The Power of Five]]'' is put in one of these during the fourth book. She actually realizes almost immediately that she is in a prison. A superbly comfortable, incredibly expensive and luxurious prison, but a prison nonetheless. What she ''doesn't'' realize is that in this case, "the management" is the [[Legions of Hell]] in all but name.

* Subverted in ''[[Tairen Soul]].'' [[Evil Sorcerer|Vadim Maur]] has very nice-looking chambers for all his important Fey prisoners to stay in. The catch is that for the most dangerous ones, every inch of the room is threaded with the black metal ''Sel'dor'', which Fey are weak to. Therefore, the Fey in these beautiful chambers are in ''[[Nightmare Fuel|almost constant pain]]''.

* ''Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia'' by [[Samuel Johnson]] opens with the title character kept in a valley like all the princes who do not succeed to the throne, in the lap of luxury so they don't want to leave. Except that Rasselas finds himself inexplicably miserable. His tutor tells him that if he knew how miserable life was outside, he would appreciate the valley. Rasselas takes it as a suggestion.

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|The Orphans of Chaos]]'', Boggins praises the education they are giving the children and tells them they are lucky to receive it.

* In ''[[The Shamer Chronicles]]'', this is what Dina was kept in after she got captured by the Villain in the second book.

* Murtagh was kept in a palatial residence with every need catered for in ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]'' once the Varden found out who he was. [[Locked in the Dungeon|Not so much in the film.]]

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: ''Cross Roads'' reveals that Henry "Hank" Jellicoe put the Vigilantes and the Big Five into these to keep them divided and unable to disrupt his plans to set up an assassination attempt on President Martine Connor and step in to stop it and make sure the Pentagon keeps funding him and his organization Global Sercurities. Fortunately, the Vigilantes and the Big Five eventually realized that they were stuck in these, and got out of them. ''Deja Vu'' reveals that Jellicoe put a reporter named Virgil Anders in one, because Virgil was writing a book about Jellicoe titled "Man, Myth, Monster", and Jellicoe objected to the "monster" part.

* [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]]'s ''[[The First Circle]]'' is set in a ''sharashka'', the Club Fed-style encampments within [[The Gulag]] for scientists doing necessary work (See below under "Real Life"). Solzhenitsyn himself served out most of his eight-year sentence in one, due to his talent as a mathematician.

 

== [[Music]] ==

== Mythology and Religion ==

* In response to a prophecy that his son would become a great religious leader or a great king (and preferring that he become the latter), the father of [[Buddhism|Siddhartha Guatama]] kept him in one of these. [[You Should Know This Already|It didn't work]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* If you do well enough in ''[[Rayman|Rayman: Raving Rabbids]]'', your prison cell becomes one of these.

* In ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'', [[Rebellious Princess|Kara]] constantly tries to escape her father's castle before joining [[The Hero|Will]] and leaving permanently. She even describes it as a "prison of silk and gold".

** Zevran considers being an Antivan Crow to be this.

** In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' the Kirkwall Circle of Magi has it even worse: not only are the Templars even stricter (verging on psychotic), but over the course of the game the "gilding" on their cage is gradually removed; apart from that rather nasty point in which [[Complete Monster|Ser Alrik]] was implied to be making mages [[Empty Shell|Tranquil]] so he could use them as sex slaves, the most spartan it got was in Act II, when mages aren't even permitted to leave their cells. Of course, the Circle is even housed in a former prison complex, so the gilding was somewhat limited to begin with.

'''Shepard:''' Technically, this is a civilian ship. I'm probably lucky you're still wearing pants.

'''Joker:''' Yeah, I'll save that for the off-hour cameras... }}

 

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Baron Wulfenbach takes the children of the nobles in his empire to his floating dirigible fortress as his students/hostages. They receive the best education and upbringing the Baron can provide for them, and most of the students do enjoy their life there and even form friendships with the others. None of them ever forgets that they are the Baron's prisoners and hostages meant to keep their families in line.

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

'''Aang''': He did say it was newly refurbished.

'''Sokka''': Nice or not, we're still prisoners. }}

** The Gaang's experience in Ba Sing Se. They were allowed to indulge in all the luxury they wanted, as long as they didn't try to leave, or break the rules, or evade the constant surveillance, or search for Appa, or tell anyone about Long Feng's [[Government Conspiracy]] or the war with the Fire Nation...

 

** Even better, the name was likely not tongue-in-cheek at all.

* There was a comfortable resort or something in Scotland during WWII where some people who knew too much were kept comfortably, but not allowed to leave. Also, some spy-defectors were also confined to mansions (at least in the UK, maybe the US as well) while the genuine-ness of their defection was being determined.

* The earlier part of [[Mary of Scotland|Mary, Queen of Scots]]' prison term was spent in one of these.

* Legend says that Pablo Escobar's cell was exactly like this.

* Minimum security prisons are sort of like being on house arrest at a resort, except you're required to do community service and the like. Granted, the people who go here tend to be white collar offenders.

* When Galileo was house arrested by the Catholic Church, he was put in a nice house and he was catered to what he wanted. He was even still allowed to continue with his work.

* Historically, Harems were pretty much this.

* In the Soviet [[The Gulag|Gulag]], there were special prisons known as ''[[wikipedia:Sharashka|sharashki]]'', where inmates, usually those with some talent useful to the state like scientists or engineers were given comfortable accomodations, high-quality food, allowed to wear their own clothing, and given a good deal of autonomy in return for working on science projects like the early space program ([[wikipedia:Sergei Korolev#Imprisonment|Sergei "The Chief Designer" Korolev began his career in one]]).

 

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Prison]]