History Main / TemptingApple

* The [[TheBible Apple of Knowledge of Good and Evil]], which is practically a linguistic accident but nonetheless the one the audience is most likely to think of.

* The goal of the Creator/{{Konami}} game ''[[AntarcticAdventure Penguin Adventure]]'' is to get a golden apple to cure the penguin princess.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'', Leman Russ is looking for apples from the Tree of Life to get the Emperor back on his feet. He's been looking for ten damn millenia.

Details for these four are in the examples. Because of their influence of their apples are very likely to specifically symbolise the temptations of secret knowledge, health and immortality, beauty, and wealth. They are also likely to be poisoned or be associated with snakes.

* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', Clu sees his reflection in a silver apple, recalls his creation by Flynn (who he has come to passionately hate), and loses his temper. Will all the stuff in the movie that could be considered religious symbolism, in this case the apple was made by [[GodIsFlawed a well meaning but flawed creator]] and rejected by his [[SatanicArchetype vicious and even more flawed creation]].

* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', Clu sees his reflection in a silver apple, recalls his creation by Flynn (who he has come to passionately hate), and loses his temper.

* In the commentary for ''EvesBayou'', the director and writer points out that even she thought her use of Eve and the apple and Eve and the snake were a little [[{{Anvilicious}} heavy handed.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/apple.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:330:[[Manga/DeathNote http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/08_Gaze_20100805-09581159_4035.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330: [[BlatantLies Believe us]], it's a [[FauxSymbolism deeply symbolic]] moment!]]

-->--''Literature/GoodOmens''

* In ''Film/AnimalHouse'', Donald Sutherland's shady, [[TeacherStudentRomance student-romancing]] English professor is shown lecturing on ''ParadiseLost'' from a SatanIsGood perspective, and then biting into an apple.

* '' TheIlluminatusTrilogy'' repeatedly plays with Greek mythology's version of the Apple of Discord.

* The [[GreekMythology Golden Apples of Immortality]], which are doubly tempting but invariably at least protected by the threat of divine retribution

* This goes [[OlderThanFeudalism all the way back]] to the [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle stories]] of the [[GreekMythology Ancient Greeks]]. The Apple of Discord was inscribed ''ΚΑΛΛΊΣΤῌ'' ("For the fairest") by Eris, Goddess of Strife, and thrown into the round of undeniably vain Olympians, eventually resulting in UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar. Gods sure tend to overreact... Then there's also Hera's orchard of golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, the apple by means of which Akontios tricked Kydippe to marry him, and the golden apples Hippomenes used to distract Atalanta in a race and earn the right to marry her. Don't get 'em mixed up.

* Idunn's golden apples in NorseMythology granted one immortality. For a while, anyway. If the gods don't continue munching those apples, they get old. This aspect was explored in a tale involving Loki and the frost giant Thiazi.
* IrishMythology: In ''Literature/TheSonsOfTuirenn'', the sons of Tuirenn are to [[FetchQuest get three golden apples]] from the well-guarded Garden in the East of the World. One bite of these fruits can cure any wound or sickness.

* In ''Film/FrightNight'', Jerry Dandridge is usually seen snacking on apples - unless he's snacking on someone's neck instead.

* The opening titles of ''DesperateHousewives'' use an apple motif. A giant one with the show's name written on it falls on Adam (in the painting shown at the beginning) and the four main characters are shown catching apples at the end. Much of the show's promotional material also makes use of the motif.
* ''[[Series.TheCollector The Collector]]'': The Devil peddles weird black apples "plucked from the tree of knowledge you'd rather not have". They make people realize unpleasant things about themselves, sometimes by restoring forgotten memories.

* This goes [[OlderThanFeudalism all the way back]] to the [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle stories]] of the [[GreekMythology Ancient Greeks]]. The Apple of Discord was inscribed ''ΚΑΛΛΊΣΤῌ'' ("For the fairest") by Eris, Goddess of Strife, and thrown into the round of undeniably vain Olympians, eventually resulting in the TrojanWar. Gods sure tend to overreact... Then there's also Hera's orchard of golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, the apple by means of which Akontios tricked Kydippe to marry him, and the golden apples Hippomenes used to distract Atalanta in a race and earn the right to marry her. Don't get 'em mixed up.

* ''BoardwalkEmpire'': UsefulNotes/AlCapone, first introduced in the pilot as a young, childish thug under the watch of Johnny Torrio, undergoes a maturation process during the first season that ends with a scene where he guns down a rival {{mook}}, takes an apple from the fallen and eats it. By the next season, he shows contempt at the idea of being anything but a gangster.

* ''BoardwalkEmpire'': AlCapone, first introduced in the pilot as a young, childish thug under the watch of Johnny Torrio, undergoes a maturation process during the first season that ends with a scene where he guns down a rival {{mook}}, takes an apple from the fallen and eats it. By the next season, he shows contempt at the idea of being anything but a gangster.

* In ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', [[ManipulativeBastard Johan]] gives the all-but-blind Schubert an apple to convince him that the woodland of his younger days is still there. In the short run, this ingratiates himself with him; in the long run, if he ever finds out otherwise it's likely to contribute into Johan's favourite trick of driving people to suicide.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Apples are Barbossa's TrademarkFavouriteFood, and his inability to taste them as an undead pirate ''is'' the most important consequence to him for his theft of the cursed Aztec gold. He also keeps them on-hand at all times, to eat one as soon as he's free of the curse again, which allows Jack to mockingly eat one in front of him in order to goad him into making a deal. It's the temptation and the consequence all at once! When he finally returns from the dead at the end of ''Dead Man's Chest'', naturally the first thing he does is to eat one.

* In DCNation, the apple of desire was passed around during the Olympics plot. Jesse Quick sees a world where her father's still alive. Donna Troy saw a world where she was reunited with her family, Titans and Terry Long. It is enough to shock Donna into realizing that she really wants to be with her living family and [[spoiler: give up her dead children to Persephone's care so she can return to the Titans]].

* "Do you know the first thing I'm going to do after the curse is lifted? Eat a whole bushel of apples." ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': More thinky than it looks. Apples are Barbossa's TrademarkFavouriteFood, and his inability to taste them as an undead pirate ''is'' the most important consequence to him for his theft of the cursed Aztec gold.
** He also keeps them on-hand at all times, to eat one as soon as he's free of the curse again, which allows Jack to mockingly eat one in front of him in order to goad him into making a deal. It's the temptation and the consequence all at once!
** When he finally returns from the dead at the end of ''Dead Man's Chest'', naturally the first thing he does is to eat one.
* Used in ''{{Pleasantville}}'', where the male lead is offered an apple by his girlfriend in a film all about a [[TrappedInTVLand fictional town's]] loss of innocence.

* In ''AnimalHouse'', Donald Sutherland's shady, [[TeacherStudentRomance student-romancing]] English professor is shown lecturing on ''ParadiseLost'' from a SatanIsGood perspective, and then biting into an apple.

* In ''Literature/TheJezinkas'', one Jezinka (a beautiful but wicked member of TheFairFolk) uses an apple to tempt Johny.

* In 'Manga/'{{Bizenghast}}'', there are apples that can cure severe illnesses and even possibly bring someone back from the dead, Dinah is warned to take only one - but is convinced to surreptitiously take another one (which of course later revealed to have turned deadly by the fact she stole it).

* The titular MacGuffin in ''{{Appleseed}}'' is a technology that allows [[ArtificialHuman Bioroids]] to have a lifespan just as long as humans.
* In ''RebuildOfEvangelion'', the symbol of the conspiratorial organisation NERV is a half-eaten apple with a fig leaf.
* In ''{{Bizenghast}}'', there are apples that can cure severe illnesses and even possibly bring someone back from the dead, Dinah is warned to take only one - but is convinced to surreptitiously take another one (which of course later revealed to have turned deadly by the fact she stole it).
* In the latter half of the ''SoulEater'' anime, Medusa, a [[AnimalMotifs snake witch]], is associated with apples several times. One such moment is when Rachel, the child whose body she snatches by disguising herself as a cute dog, is watching an educational television program: A little girl reaching for a certain red fruit, which is then repeated several times: "An apple! An apple! An apple!"
* In {{Monster}}, [[ManipulativeBastard Johan]] gives the all-but-blind Schubert an apple to convince him that the woodland of his younger days is still there. In the short run, this ingratiates himself with him; in the long run, if he ever finds out otherwise it's likely to contribute into Johan's favourite trick of driving people to suicide.

* The goal of the {{Konami}} game ''[[AntarcticAdventure Penguin Adventure]]'' is to get a golden apple to cure the penguin princess.
* One of the goals in ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'' is the hunt for the village's great treasure, the Golden Apple. [[spoiler:Turns out the Golden Apple is the late Baron's daughter Flora, who has an apple-shaped birthmark.]]

* In ''Webcomics/OlympusOverdrive'', the smybol of [[AppleOfDiscord Eris]] is... yep. An apple.

* GarfieldAndFriends' parody of Literature/SnowWhiteAndThe7Dwarves had Lanolin Sheep (wearing a purple hood and a basket of apples labeled "poison apples") offering a poison apple and openly saying it's poison [[note]] In foreign dubs of the episode, she says it's just an apple[[/note]] to Snow Wade while the other dwarves are still in the house. [[spoiler: Just like in the story, Snow Wade then eats it and dies. His reason? "I'll accept anything that's free!"]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4023 Lil Evil naturally goes for the apples in Paradise because they are forbidden.]]