Clay people, Mark Twain, and Satan

I found this creepy cartoon on youtube when I was searching for odd religious references. It is a claymation short (from a longer claymation film titled the Adventures of Mark Twain) about his last unfinished work "the Mysterious Stranger." A story about a mysterious stranger who appears at the door of a print shop and uses heavenly powers to expose the futility of mankind's existence.

Here is the video


I found the story and the cartoon very interesting. It simultaneously goes after the existence of man and how evil and stupid it is, and the idea of religion. Satan, according to the Christians was indeed an angel before he was cast out of heaven for his feudal ways and his anger towards the human race (Gods preferred beings). It also brings in the scientific thought that we may not exist at all. One that, at the time, was a fairly new and unaccepted concept. Another strength of this cartoon is that it does not put a gender on the 'angel.' Both male and female voices and faces are used and there is no way to discern what type of body the being has; this keeps the stranger shrouded in mystery and goes with the theme that nothing can be known. One interesting part that raised some questions for me was the statement by one of the boys that "you murdered them" when the clay figures were crushed. Why was this considered murder? They were just living dirt creatures, not very realistic, were they really people? (for according to law only people can be murdered). What do you suppose this is supposed to mean? both in the small context of the cartoon and the larger context of whatever it is supposed to represent. If Satan is trying to show the kids the futility of human existence, why do the kids make the humans and why are the 'humans' so small and unrealistic? Perhaps this is another portrayal of how unrealistic our existence actually is. We are mere clay creatures with simple features and we are made by children, playthings that don't really matter because "we can always make more."

This cartoon attacks religion by naming the 'angel' Satan. If Satan is the creater and smitor and whatever else of humans in this dream world, Satan is beginning to look alot like God right? What does this mean for the religious? This is telling them that perhaps instead of God they are following a Satan-like creature?

I have always enjoyed the creepy things like this that raise many questions. Pondering our religious views and indeed our very existence; taking a step back to wonder what do I really believe, is something that has always captivated me.