For our latest RoomHop, self-proclaimed Wicker Man fanatic Alison Herman trekked to Plimpton to explore the Cage that celebrates the Cage.

Cage-isms line the wall, providing much needed inspiration during finals week.

Harry Hanrahan’s YouTube masterpiece “Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit“—a four-minute montage of the actor crying, screaming, swearing, and generally misbehaving—may seem like an unlikely inspiration for dorm room decor, but the residents of Plimpton 11A are not your typical suitemates.  Mary, Charlie, Abby, Christina, and Margot have transformed their living space into “The Cage Cage,” a decorative homage to the star of such cinematic diamonds in the rough as National Treasure 2 and The Wicker Man. The girls first thought of the Cage theme as a joke, but then decided to go all in—which seemed to be the reasoning behind most of the suite’s antics. Complete with swagged-out doors, a Wall of Shame, and Sister Wives-style group portraits, the Cage combines humor and homeliness with a thoroughly eccentric theme.

The five Barnard upperclassmen, all juniors except Mary, a second-semester senior, began their decorations with the door. Although the Plimpton 11 RA had already given each resident a jungle animal nametag, the Cagers still found room for improvement: each suite member photographed themselves dressed as their respective jungle animals, complete with zebra-print dresses and lemur eye makeup. There’s also a group shot of the five girls with the man himself Photoshopped in—a harbinger of what lie inside for visitors.

Group photo!

The first thing one sees upon entering the Cage Cage is a wall of Nicolas Cage, plus one Civil War soldier who happens to bear a striking resemblance to him, in various states of distress. Each picture is captioned with peppy phrases like “YOU CAN DO IT!!!” and “YOUR THESIS IS AWESOME!!!”, meant to help the suite get through finals in one piece.  Opposite the Wall of Cage is the Wall of Shame, featuring a D+ book report by Abby on the fantasy novel A Game of Thrones, a drunk note from Margot, and the rules governing the use of the suite stove—a distinctly Fight Club-meets-Culinary school doctrine containing the likes of “One meal at a time, ladies.”

Last, but not least, the Cagers have decorated each of their doors with both embarrassing photos from Facebook and the colors of their Harry Potter Houses. Mary and Charlie are slytherins, Abby a Hufflepuff, Margot Ravenclaw, and Christina is a Gryffindor by choice—the Sorting Hat on Pottermore let her pick. Brought together by their love for Harry Potter and hilarious YouTube videos, the ladies of Plimpton 11A have united their five singles into one over-the-top thoroughly decorated Cage Cage.