History Main / GoodAngelBadAngel

[[folder:Asian Animation]]

* ''Film/{{The Muppets|2011}}'': Animal's Good Angel and Bad Angel succinctly debate whether or not he should play the drums again (with Bad Angel for -- it's connected to his taking Anger Management classes) during the big number during the Muppet Telethon:

* ''WebVideo/LifeSMP'': On Day 7 of Season 5, ''Secret Life'', Cleo, Skizz, and Etho's joint secret task revolves around this dynamic, with Skizz and Etho respectively acting as the "angel" and "devil" on Cleo's shoulders to convince her to do helpful or harmful things; the two can only win if Cleo listens to them more. Meanwhile, Cleo is told to alternate between the two's advice and keep the books balanced, and to pretend she's not in the know about the situation.

* The Hong Kong comedy film ''Film/TwinkleTwinkleLittleStar'' has one such moment when Kwok contemplates on forcing himself on his new secretary (played by Crerie Chung), or not. Cue an angel and a devil ([[ActingForTwo both played by Kwok's actor David Lo]]) telling him to "consider his actions" or "make his move".

* In ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'s Team-Up with Machine Man, Deadpool experiences this with the angel being represented by his current partner (Machine Man) and the devil is being represented by the Puppet Master, who they were currently fighting. [[CloudCuckoolander True to his character]] (as well as Machine Man's partially) Deadpool pictured the angel as a drunk spouting off boring robot logic which quickly devolved to binary code speak.

* The Hong Kong comedy film ''Film/TwinkleTwinkleLuckyStar'' has one such moment when Kwok contemplates on forcing himself on his new secretary (played by Crerie Chung), or not. Cue an angel and a devil ([[ActingForTwo both played by Kwok's actor David Lo]]) telling him to "consider his actions" or "make his move".

* The Hong Kong comedy film ''TwinkleTwinkleLuckyStar'' has one such moment when Kwok contemplates on forcing himself on his new secretary (played by Crerie Chung), or not. Cue an angel and a devil ([[ActingForTwo both played by Kwok's actor David Lo]]) telling him to "consider his actions" or "make his move".

* A rare deadly-serious example is ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy Perelandra]]''. The protagonist, Dr. Ransom, (reluctantly) acts as the "good angel" for the Lady of Perelandra ([[AdamAndEvePlot a next-generation Eve]]) while she is tempted to [[ForbiddenFruit disobedience]] by a/the devil (the "bad angel") possessing the body of Ransom's former colleague.

* Subverted on the [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/3606-Give-In "Give In"]] episode of ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun'', when the main character is trying to decide if he should shoot someone, and [[spoiler: he goes ahead and shoots the guy before his good angel has a chance to give his point of view. The good angel is quite annoyed by this.]]

-->'''Good Tommy''': Go ahead. Do it. That's exactly what I'd expect from you, taking advantage of a drunk woman in her moment of weakness. I bet your conscience won't trouble you for a second.
-->'''Bad Tommy''': Yeah! Go ahead. Do it. That's exactly what I'd expect from you, taking advantage of a drunk woman in her moment of weakness. I bet your conscience won't trouble you for a second.

[[folder:Films - Animation]]

--->'''Kronk:''' But what does that have to do with anyth-\\
'''Shoulder Angel:''' [[ChewbaccaDefense No, no, he's got a point.]]

--->'''Shoulder Devil:''' [[BerserkButton That's it.]] (''[[DramaticGunCock pumps his pitchfork like a shotgun]]'') She's going down.

* In [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's version]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', Jiminy Cricket is hired by the "Blue Fairy" to act as Pinocchio's conscience. Note that "Jiminy Cricket" has the same initials as "UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Christ". This was intentional, as at the time, it was the [[GoshDangItToHeck acceptable replacement term.]] Pinocchio's own stupidity... er, naivete... meant he didn't need a devil. In [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio the original book]], he killed the (originally unnamed) cricket with a hammer, and its ghost came back to haunt/annoy him.

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** Although it doesn't actually appear in the form of an angel, Rincewind has an argument with his conscience in ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}''.
** Carcer, the villain of ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'' is described as having a devil on each shoulder, working together and egging him on.
** The Omnian priest The Quite Reverend Mightily-Praiseworthy-Are-They-Who-Exalteth-Om Oats has two voices in his head which he thinks of as the Good Oats and the Bad Oats. That is: ''one'' of them thinks of ''itself'' as the Good Oats who encourages living properly and devotion to Om and the other as the Bad Oats who gives him impious and improper thoughts; but the ''other'' one thinks ''it's'' the Good Oats who encourages being sensible and thinking logically, and the other one's the Bad Oats that just wants blind obedience to the church. In the end, he's able to get them to work together at last.
** The witch Agnes/Perdita Nitt has the same issue, although in this case it's between the kind, clear-headed Agnes and the sassy, dare-devil Perdita.
* In Creator/TerryPratchett and Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/GoodOmens'', the demon Crowley and the angel Azaraphale, detailed by Heaven and Hell respectively to remain in the human world since the expulsion from Eden and, er, guide its steps, could fairly be described as the Angel and the Devil standing on opposite shoulders of ''the whole human race''. This does not work out as their superiors intend: most of the time they informally agree to cancel each other out, spare thenselves the effort, and let Humanity find its own middle way. But just sometimes...
* Referenced in John D. Fitzgerald's ''Literature/GreatBrain'' series: the Great Brain's father comments that he must be deaf in the right ear, since that's the one the good angel is supposed to whisper into.

** Plato tells us that he said to have a personal daemon (who was basically a Jimminy Cricket figure). Plato is one of the first recorded instances of people using daemon/daimon to mean something personal and guiding. Earlier it had been used to mean the same thing as deity and only much later was demon exclusively evil. Post-Alexander The Great they started to come up with "Good Demon, Bad Demon".
* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'', where the title character is writing instructional letters to Wormwood, who is a literal version of the shoulder devil. The Tempters are highly organized, with a training college, middle management, and harsh punishments for devils who fail to corrupt their "patients." At one point, Screwtape orders Wormwood to subvert this trope by impersonating the good angel and arguing with the other angel over who actually is the one giving good advice.
* Another Creator/CSLewis book and a rare deadly-serious example is ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy Perelandra]]''. The protagonist, Dr. Ransom, (reluctantly) acts as the "good angel" for the Lady of Perelandra ([[AdamandEvePlot a next-generation Eve]]) while she is tempted to [[ForbiddenFruit disobedience]] by a/the devil (the "bad angel") possessing the body of Ransom's former colleague.
* Referenced in ''Literature/PaperTowns'' when Q is blackmailing a classmate into paying for the bikes his friends wrecked.
-->"I understand that you do not control Chuck and Jasper. But you see, I am in a similar situation. I do not control the little devil sitting on my left shoulder. The devil is saying, 'PRINT THE PICTURE PRINT THE PICTURE TAPE IT UP ALL OVER SCHOOL DO IT DO IT DO IT.' And then on my right shoulder there is a little tiny white angel. And the angel is saying, 'Man, I sure as shit hope all those freshmen get their money bright and early on Monday morning.' So do I, little angel. So do I."
* In Creator/AndreiBelyanin's ''Literature/MyWifeIsAWitch'' duology, the main character, a poet, finds out that his HotLibrarian wife is actually descended from a long line of witches. When she disappears into the magical realms because of him, he goes to find her. Once he is exposed to magic, though, he begins to see two figures, both looking like him: an angel in a white robe and with wings and halo named Ancipher and a red, horned (possibly Jewish) demon named Pharmason. Unlike the other cases, these two are real, although no one else can see or hear them. They become the poet's companions (and friends) as he travels through the magical realms looking for his wife and, in the sequel, for her cousin. As can be expected, the angel and demon constantly engage in arguments, usually started by the demon. Ironically, it's the angel who turns these into fist fights. While it may seem that the demon is there only to lead the poet down the wrong path, it's really just his job, and he's actually not a bad guy. In fact, he argues with the poet that if he only had an angel, he'd be married to a nice, proper Christian woman (not a witch), go to church every week, and only have sex for procreation. The demon provides a healthy counterbalance. They can appear either as tiny people on his shoulders or human-sized versions. The second book reveals that Heaven is operated by a CelestialBureaucracy. Hell then decides to adopt this system, forcing Pharmason to fill out and submit multiple reports in triplicate every day.

* This appears in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's Sonnet 144 and is interesting in that his Devil seduces the Angel. While it's not literally presented as them being on his shoulder, and the Angel and Devil represent the Young Man and the Dark Lady, respectively, it is carried out in much the same way as a classical Psychomachia.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Kaladin has a Good Angel in the form of Syl, a [[ElementalEmbodiment windspren]] who constantly pushes him to help others and do the right thing. His Bad Angel is something he calls "the Wretch," a part of him that is concerned with nothing but pure survival. It doesn't push him to explicit evil, but simple and pragmatic selfishness. This is still evil enough, though, because he and the slaves around him are in a very dangerous situation, and if he doesn't help them they ''will'' die.

--> There's a monster living under my bed, whispering in my ear
--> There's an angel, with her hand on my head, she say I got nothing to fear

--> Time to make room for the devil on my shoulder
--> Tell my better angels to move the fuck over

* Judaism has the concept of ''yetzer (ha)tov,'' or "good inclination," and ''yetzer (ha)ra,'' or "evil inclination."
* An anecdote often attributed (falsely) to Native American legend says everyone has a good wolf and an evil wolf battling in his or her heart. The winner will be the wolf that the person feeds.

* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Jade gives Ayla a literal pair of them as a prank... and thereby inspires other students to come up with their own more or less successful versions in turn. The whole thing escalates until the headmistress ends up banning them.
* [=Kawaii RanChan=] on livejournal has an odd habit of adding in her own twist on what she calls her shoulder angels assigned to her by a division of angels in Heaven called Angels Inc., which is a company that assigns guardian angels to people in need. The angels themselves always take the form of characters she likes, OOC or not, that way to actually get her response. It is hinted in a few entries from her good angel that "we're less guardian angels, more invisible friends" — which is all just her own satire about herself. Doesn't make her less crazy.
* Subverted on the [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/3606-Give-In "Give In"]] episode of ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun'', when the main character is trying to decide if he should shoot someone, and [[spoiler: he goes ahead and shoots the guy before his good angel has a chance to give his point of view. The good angel is quite annoyed by this.]]
* ''Website/SFDebris'' gives [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Janeway]] these. Befitting his interpretation of her as an insane tyrant, no angel appears. Instead she has a devil, whose advice she dismisses as "religious crap"; an atom, who can only offer suggestions about the behavior of atoms like combining to form a molecule or splitting to release energy; a cowboy, who is terrified and just wants to get out of there (i.e. away from Voyager); and a spider, who always recommends eating people. Initially she goes with shoulder cowboy and decides to leave, though she later listens to the devil, when he steals the cowboy's hat and pretends to be him.
** In a later episode he transformed into a spider wearing the cowboy hat. No other advisers appear, suggesting he ate them all.

** One skit has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUjuPh4jf-Y two-minute video]] where a guy named Chris prepares to masturbate after his roommate leaves. He begins to take off his shorts when his shoulder devil encourages him to jack off naked. When he starts taking his shirt off, his shoulder angel encourages him to keep his pants on in case his roommate returns earlier than anticipated. The conversation goes on until they hear a car pull up. The shoulder angel begs Chris to wait until later, but the shoulder devil gives a [[DownplayedTrope heart-warming speech]] about how there's not going to be a later. Chris [[spoiler:and the angel]] strip naked. [[spoiler: And then [[CaughtWithYourPantsDown the roommate walks in.]]]]

* [[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Well__0x2e__0x2e__0x2e__that_0x27_s_one_way_to_Roundoff__0x2e__0x2e__0x2e_.aspx This article]].
--> "When it comes to talking about Microsoft Access, it seems that two tiny versions of me *poof* into existence, each sitting on a shoulder. The guy on my right wears a suit and always reminds me how great of a tool Access is because it empowers small organizations to develop productivity and information systems. The other guy, sporting a "l337 h4x0r" tee and cut-off jeans, screams in my ear that "Access is a complete abomination" and that the tools to create applications should not be put in the hands of laymen."
* During Creator/TeamFourStar's Nuzlocke playthrough of ''VideoGame/PokemonSoulSilver'', they decide that their character Tantor's pokemon serve this role, with Hux the Houndoom playing the devil and Mr. Stake the Meganium serving as the angel. Unfortunately, Hux's advice involves beating people up and [[IBangedYourMom banging their moms]], while Mr. Stake has brain damage and can only say "MUHR-STAYK!!"

* A ReactionShot ImageMacro for {{Squick}} has a character representing the viewer looking at their computer with a horrified expression. Panel 2 shows their good side/superego, also with a horrified expression. Panel 3 shows their bad side/id equally horrified as the other two. Later versions have panel 4 showing the FBI and NSA agents monitoring the webfeed with the exact same expression.

* WebVideo/{{Jacksepticeye}}: The [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6YZL6KOlbrk/maxresdefault.jpg thumbnail]] for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YZL6KOlbrk Jack's 2nd episode on ''Peace, Death!'']] shows him contemplating with little demon and angel versions of himself standing on his shoulders. His demon seems gleeful, while his angel is seemingly panicking.

* In ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' by Alison Bechdel, a pair of these show up. The devil is a hetero girl with a skirt.