>>> fruits = "['apple', 'orange', 'banana']"
>>> import ast
>>> fruits = ast.literal_eval(fruits)
>>> fruits
['apple', 'orange', 'banana']
>>> fruits[1]
'orange'
As pointed out in the comments ast.literal_eval is safe. From the docs:
Safely evaluate an expression node or a string containing a Python
expression. The string or node provided may only consist of the
following Python literal structures: strings, numbers, tuples, lists,
dicts, booleans, and None.
This can be used for safely evaluating strings containing Python
expressions from untrusted sources without the need to parse the
values oneself.
