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Film
"You've chosen a magnificent prison, but it is a prison nonetheless."
— Judge Claude Frollo, after Esmeralda claims sanctuary in the cathedral, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
Literature
"Well, I admit my crib is pretty sweet. But a gold cage is still a cage, Harry."
— Bob, The Dresden Files
Yes, it was beautiful and life was good, but if every day were exactly alike and if the kids really couldn't leave, as Miss Peregrine had said, then this place wasn't just a heaven but a kind of prison, too.
Live-Action TV
Nayrock: (on monitor) Captain, what this man has been telling you is full of half-truths. He's a prisoner. What do you expect him to say about us?
Picard: Well, perhaps you would clarify it for me.
Nayrock: The soldiers were resettled on Lunar Five. It was to be their colony.
Picard: Was it a resettlement of their choosing?
Nayrock: It was for their own protection as well as that of others. Most of them were quite happy there. We went to great lengths to give them a fine quality of life.
Picard: Prime Minister, even the most comfortable prison is a prison.
— Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Hunted"
Leonardo: I will not leave this New World.
Janeway: Your new world is a prison. You are under his control.
Leonardo: When are we not in prison? Hmm? When are our lives free from the influence of those who have more power than us? If this New World is a cage, then it is a cage of gold; of marvels, of opportunities!
Janeway: Your new world is a prison. You are under his control.
Leonardo: When are we not in prison? Hmm? When are our lives free from the influence of those who have more power than us? If this New World is a cage, then it is a cage of gold; of marvels, of opportunities!
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.
Lister: You're right, Kryten. Cat, caviar niblet. [is passed the food and eagerly snacks on it] Bucks fizz. [is passed the drink and pours himself a glass] Let's talk about how to get out of this hellhole.
Lister: You're right, Kryten. Cat, caviar niblet. [is passed the food and eagerly snacks on it] Bucks fizz. [is passed the drink and pours himself a glass] Let's talk about how to get out of this hellhole.
"I figured Earth would freak out and it's delivered in spades, on time, 30 minutes or less. Uncle Sam is keeping the aliens safe and contained. A waterfront mansion for their personal use, with full security team standing by. It's a cage, but at least it's a gilded one."
— John Crichton, Farscape, "Terra Firma"
Music
She's only a bird in a gilded cage
A beautiful sight to see
You may think she is happy and free from care
She's not, though she seems to be
'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life
For youth cannot mate with age
And her beauty was sold for an old man's gold
She's a bird in a gilded cage
A beautiful sight to see
You may think she is happy and free from care
She's not, though she seems to be
'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life
For youth cannot mate with age
And her beauty was sold for an old man's gold
She's a bird in a gilded cage
— Arthur J. Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer, "A Bird in a Gilded Cage"
Radio
Willis: I'm a prisoner?
Arnold Baynes: Mr Willis, you've got alpha-grade access to the Dome; that's a freedom that barely a hundred TAI employees have. You've got all the food you can eat, complete access to the data-net. If you're in prison, then so's virtually the entire population of the galaxy!
Arnold Baynes: Mr Willis, you've got alpha-grade access to the Dome; that's a freedom that barely a hundred TAI employees have. You've got all the food you can eat, complete access to the data-net. If you're in prison, then so's virtually the entire population of the galaxy!
Video Games
The Elfburrow is one of the most beautiful spots imaginable. But a golden prison is still a prison.
— Nate, The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
I too, am a prisoner - in a prison of silk and gold.
Organic Sanctuary - This sanctuary provides a sealed environment where organics can thrive in a safe and above all controlled manner.
Organic Paradise - An AI-controlled artificial paradise designed to satisfy every need a sapient organic being might have, just so long as it does not express a need for self-determination.
Organic Paradise - An AI-controlled artificial paradise designed to satisfy every need a sapient organic being might have, just so long as it does not express a need for self-determination.
— Buildings available to Rogue Servitor machine empires, Stellaris
Shen: You lived in one of the colonies for a few years before linking up with Central, right?
Tygan: Yes, one of the advantages to working with ADVENT. On the surface, it was very comfortable. But there was a price for that comfort.
Shen: The millions of people in those cities don't seem to mind all that much.
Tygan: But ADVENT is always watching. Between their forces and the aliens themselves, they see everything. Not to mention their automated systems. There's nothing quite like providing identification to a lamppost.
Tygan: Yes, one of the advantages to working with ADVENT. On the surface, it was very comfortable. But there was a price for that comfort.
Shen: The millions of people in those cities don't seem to mind all that much.
Tygan: But ADVENT is always watching. Between their forces and the aliens themselves, they see everything. Not to mention their automated systems. There's nothing quite like providing identification to a lamppost.
— XCOM 2
A fancy prison is still a prison.
— Reyn, Xenoblade Chronicles 1
The Bookkeeper shakes his head as he passes an invitation over. On another sheet, he scrawls a warning. 'It's a cage, though the bars are pretty.'
— The Stalwart Bookkeeper, Sunless Skies
Sotenbori's not your backyard, asshole! It's your cage! Your CAGE! When you step out at a goddamn hotel you let the front desk know!
— Tsukasa Sagawa, Yakuza 0
Visual Novels
Sevastian: If I thought they would let you go, I'd tell you to run. Run all the way back to your tavern in the Winter Wilds.
Heroine: Wait…what do you mean, let me out? Am I some kind of prisoner here?
Sevastian's gaze slides away from mine.
Sevastian: No. You are an honored guest. But you may come to learn that the two are not so different from one another.
Heroine: What do you mean?
Sevastian: I mean a gilded cage is still a cage. Expectations can be the most effective chains of all.
Heroine: Wait…what do you mean, let me out? Am I some kind of prisoner here?
Sevastian's gaze slides away from mine.
Sevastian: No. You are an honored guest. But you may come to learn that the two are not so different from one another.
Heroine: What do you mean?
Sevastian: I mean a gilded cage is still a cage. Expectations can be the most effective chains of all.
— Reigning Passions, Sevastian episode 3
Web Original
Seen above holding in a snot stream of sadness he planned to release for the cameras if the judge actually hit him with the maximum punishment, Oscar Pistorius was finally sentenced today for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to death through a toilet room door. Judge Thokozile Masipa, who found him guilty of culpable homicide (which is basically manslaughter to us hos in the US) last month, sentenced him to 5 years in the clink. To put that time in perspective, it took me longer to read The Guardian's entire article about his sentencing... His Olympic career is probably done, so now he can spend all his time on fancy house arrest writing a book titled IF I Murdered Her.
— DListed
Western Animation
Viren: You're imprisoned? Your home looks like no prison I've ever seen.
Aaravos: Yes, it's well-appointed. But make no mistake, this has been my prison these past few centuries.
Aaravos: Yes, it's well-appointed. But make no mistake, this has been my prison these past few centuries.
Real Life
When I was young, I was driven to despair during vacations by the boredom of obvious things. In my old age, finding myself in the tropics, I already knew that I had always searched for medicine against this horror, which lasts because it means nothing. To give a meaning, any, only to get out of this bovine, perfectly indifferent, inert reality, without aims, strivings, affirmation, negation, like an incarnated nothingness.
— Czeslaw Milosz, Road-Side Dog
