History Main / CagedBirdMetaphor

* Inverted by the cover of the book ''I Am Free: Healing Stories About Surviving Toxic Relationships'', which features an image of a bird escaping a cage and spreading its wings.

* In ''Heart of Fire'', the first part of ''Fanfic/TheHeartTrilogy'', Smaug first captures Kathryn because of her beautiful singing and keeps her locked in [[BirdCaged a giant birdcage]].

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'': Prior to getting stuck in the Cerise Institute, Chloe had to improvise a talent show performance after her initial costume was ruined with red paint, which included a pair of angel wings from leftover props. But after that incident, her classmates dumped red paint to mocker her and in retaliation she bludgeoned the head bully with a paint can. The Professor thought it was [[SarcasmMode a smart idea]] to give his daughter counseling and made her go to the Institute for her own safety. He pays for it ''dearly''.

* In ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum'', scenes about Tabuki frequently feature a visual motif of a birdcage. This is a metaphor for his troubled, high-pressure childhood--his mother abused him and forced him to play piano. Tabuki harmed himself in order to escape from from this, but it didn't work.

* Elizabeth of ''Videogame/BioShockInfinite'' has been locked away in a tower for most of her life, guarded by a large, avian mechanical creature called "Songbird". The Luteces also refer to her as a caged bird, and there comes a point in the game when the player must decide whether she ought to wear [[https://www.google.com/search?q=bioshock+infinite+elizabeth+pendant&safe=active&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CcvM7O4aMKXPIjgxo0rMBtPW3lX-oq57Hp-zcPyVR1vYHPTwoPwD3vzeGfuO5qaM5RXdyk5leoZzud2iSlV-6BKBnioSCTGjSswG09beEcjMweOwf2njKhIJVf6irnsen7MRMFp3jyuldf8qEglw_1JVHW9gc9BEHu1cD1umRQioSCfCg_1APe_1N4ZEWJzCfe-0QXsKhIJ-47mpozlFd0RlWrCJ4hEG2gqEgnKTmV6hnO53RFFvAFYHMXs6ioSCaJKVX7oEoGeEdxVNnCG8L9H&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6mryL5I7iAhVQOKwKHW5oCKkQ9C96BAgBEBs&biw=1307&bih=909&dpr=1#imgrc=y8zs7howpc-Z3M: a pendant]] with an image of an ornate cage or a bird flying free.

* In ''Anime/LizAndTheBlueBird'', close friends Mizore and Nozomi are about to graduate from high school and separate. Together, they play a tone poem based on the eponymous story, in which a girl named Liz befriends a bluebird-turned-human, and then they part ways. Mizore compares herself to Liz, and doesn't understand why Liz would ever let the bluebird go free instead of staying together forever; this is reflected in her pursuit of Nozomi, who is represented as the bluebird locked in a cage. Later in the film, Mizore comes to the realization that [[spoiler:''she's'' the bluebird in the cage, unable to accomplish her own goals because she's "trapped" in her desire to stay with Nozomi]].

* In ''Anime/LizAndTheBlueBird'', close friends Mizore and Nozomi are about to graduate from high school and separate. Together, they play a tone poem based on the eponymous story, in which a girl named Liz befriends a bluebird-turned-human, and then they part ways. Mizore compares herself to Liz, and doesn't understand why Liz would ever let the bluebird go free instead of staying with her forever; this is reflected in her pursuit of Nozomi, who is represented as the bluebird locked in a cage. Later in the film, Mizore comes to the realization that [[spoiler:''she's'' the bluebird in the cage, unable to accomplish her own goals because she's "trapped" in her desire to stay with Nozomi]].

* A subtle example occurs in the [[RevengeAgainstMen revenge & liberation]] action flick ''Film/AVigilante'' when the heroine rescues two young boys from an abusive household: One has been locked in his room for weeks along with his pet budgie, of which he has drawn pictures all over the walls of his own metaphorical cage.

Often a {{Stock Visual Metaphor|s}}. Subtrope of AnimalMetaphor and close sister-trope to CallOfTheWildBlueYonder. The character is not quite AlwaysFemale, though there is a long-standing literary tradition of applying this to the {{Ingenue}}, DamselInDistress, or RebelliousPrincess, where it often overlaps with RichBoredom. Sister-trope to GirlInABox. Will often be a WideEyedIdealist or StepfordSmiler. Contrast BluebirdOfHappiness. May overlap with {{Birdcaged}}, where it's no longer a metaphor. Compare CanaryInACoalMine.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': As the Sultan is talking to Jasmine about rejecting her suitors, she goes over to a bird cage in the garden and picks up one of the birds, petting it as she talks about wanting to marry for love. The Sultan then puts the bird back in the cage as he tells her that she has to follow the laws and fulfill her duties. The subtext is that, like the caged birds, Jasmine feels trapped by her role as princess and yearns to escape the rigors of palace life. At the end of the scene, she opens the cage and sets all the birds free.

-->-- Frederick Jones, ''The Boundaries of Art and Social Space in Rome''

* ''Literature/TheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes'': When Coriolanus is trying to get out of the arena, he compares himself to a caged bird, adding to the [[AnimalMotifs litany of bird metaphors]] employed throughout the book:
-->Only a few weak layers of moonlight penetrated the layers of the barricade, and Coriolanus found himself crashing into wood and fencing like a wild bird in a cage[.]

* ''Literature/TheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes'': When Coriolanus is trying to get out of the arena, he compares himself to a wild bird in a cage, adding to the [[AnimalMotifs litany of bird metaphors]] employed throughout the book:

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* ''FIlm/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'': During Draco Malfoy's arc when he is agonizing over having been ordered to [[spoiler:kill Dumbledore]], he uses a pair of songbirds to test a teleportation device, and in one scene he appears framed through the bars of their spherical cage, perhaps suggesting that he, too, is not the master of hiw own fate. The bird he is most often shown handling matches his unusual hair color.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Theatre/LaCageAuxFolles'' and its American adaptation, ''Film/TheBirdcage'', where the eponymous Birdcage is a gay nightclub where individuals are free to celebrate their true selves and passions.

* One scene of the music video for "Look What You Made Me Do" from Music/TaylorSwift's ''Music/{{reputation}}'' shows Taylor swinging on a perch in a massive bird cage, singing. This image is echoed in [[PunnyName Swift]]'s poem, "If You're Anything Like Me", which accompanied the album:
-->Each new enemy turns to steel\\