Villainy's Victors 88- Satan

88) Satan from The Adventures of Mark Twain-

Satan is a difficult character to dissect because he has appeared in almost every form of narrative media. After a while, it becomes hard to pick out a version or incarnation that is particularly memorable. But that's not always the case. Sometimes, some writer somewhere comes up with a unique take on the character.

I should clarify that I have never seen the obscure claymation film, The Adventures of Mark Twain, a loose adaptation of the writer's more obscure stories, in its entirety. However, this clip featuring Satan became popular on the Internet and, as it is the only part of the movie where the character appears, I feel qualified to discuss this.



(After watching that, keep in mind that the MPAA rated this movie G. I consider this proof that the MPAA hates children.)

This Satan is not so much God's antithesis but rather His doppelganger.  In the film, his actions are eerily similar to the God of the old testament. He convinces the main characters (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Becky Thatcher) to make people from clay which he then brings to life. However, when his creations begin to annoy him, he destroys them  for their perceived sins. Furthermore, he does not see these actions as evil, as he himself defines his every action as morally right. He even identifies himself as an angel. This version of Satan is unsettling not because he opposes God but rather because he hews more closely to biblical conceptions of god than a viwer might care to admit.