The Girl on the Swing

Revisiting Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge reminded me of a life goal of mine, to be partially employed as a girl on a swing.
Nicole Kidman spends a lot of time on swings in this movie:

This is, of course, inspired by actual cabaret shows and trapeze artists, but the symbolism is appropriate in this film.
The girl on the swing is the untouchable object of desire, flying high above the audience's heads. It's an elite post but it's also a lonely one. She is isolated from her peers, and society, in her position as the coveted sexual object, a pretty pet.

Backstage at the Latin Quarter by Gordon Parks, Life Magazine (1958)

Erte

So it's a bit sad, but nonetheless it's an image that has a powerful hold on our collective consciousness, bridging the trapeze and the even more depressing, but fetishized, woman in a (bird) cage. The image of the bird cage is an interesting one, but I wouldn't want to be stuck inside.
But then I hate seeing birds in cages.

Josephine Baker in Zou Zou, 1934

Louise Brooks, “Prix de Beauté” 1930

Louise again

60's Go-Go Dancers in a cage 

Then there's Dita...

And Catherine D'Lish...to name a few modern performers that embrace the cage.