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Matt Groening Reveals Springfield Is In His Home State of Oregon
First time accepted submitter TheSeventh writes "Simpsons creator Matt Groening has revealed the location of the real Springfield: It's in Oregon. In an interview with Smithsonian magazine, Groening credits the name to the hit TV show Father Knows Best. The show 'took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown,' he says. 'When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do.'"
...um... yay? I guess?
I always thought it was inside my television.
From Wikipedia... Due to the many contradictory statements regarding Springfield, it is impossible for the town to exist in any specific U.S. state. For example, in The Simpsons Movie, Ned Flanders tells Bart that Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky all border Springfield's state. The city's unknown and unknowable geography is a recurring joke in the series; despite the "riddle wrapped in an enigma that is Springfield's location", Lisa Simpson states that "it's a bit of a mystery, yes. But if you look at the clues, you can figure it out." Episodes frequently make fun of the fact that Springfield's state is unidentifiable by adding further conflicting descriptions, obscuring onscreen map representations, and interrupting conversational references. The telephone area codes for Springfield are 636 (St. Charles County - Western St. Louis County, Missouri) and 939 (Puerto Rico). David Silverman has claimed that Springfield is in the fictional state of "North Takoma". This is substantiated by the state abbreviations NT and TA used within the show. However, this has never been officially confirmed in any canonical episode of The Simpsons or by other Simpsons producers.
"Matt Groening Reveals that 'Springfield' Name Came From 'Father Knows Best'"
The Springfield of the show is, of course, fiction. It can't exist. It's everywhere in the U.S. all at once. It's in the desert, near the ocean, it was founded by colonial settlers, it's close to both Mexico and Canada, it's home to every type of U.S. wildlife (except for bears, of course--the Bear Patrol keeps those out).
About the only things you won't find there these days are decent writing or a sense of pride.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
From TFA: "Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon"
That doesn't mean it IS Springfield, Oregon.
I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do.'
Well, not anymore.
Where's Shelbyville?
Springfield is in Oregon.
We know who that song was about.
Now if we could only figure out why Billy Joe jumped off that bridge.
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All along, we've thought it to be in OUR nearby Springfield. Life sucks suddenly.
You want to know how to help your kids? LEAVE THEM THE F*&K ALONE. --George Carlin
The characters aren't weird enough.
I used to work at a nuclear fuel processing plant here called Springfields:
http://www.nuclearsites.co.uk/site.php?LocationID=2
...such as Flanders, Lovejoy and Quimby (street names), and Burns (from the Burnside Bridge.)
So, no surprise that Springfield would be in or near Oregon.
If they can only answer that, my life's purpose will still be unknown.
P.S. Yes, I'm aware that it's almost certainly modeled on Fairplay, CO. I've been there, and to South Park, about 20mi away.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
In the 80's, Springfield was also the secret location of COBRA headquarters.
... than this one:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18530_5-pop-culture-classics-created-out-laziness.html
Check your premises.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons_20th_Anniversary_Special_%E2%80%93_In_3-D!_On_Ice!
Matt Groening already explained that Springfield is based off of Portland. All the characters are named after streets in Portland.
Old news is old...
Maybe this would have been important like 12 years ago, when the series stopped being cool and funny.
Let's be honest. Between the shows, such a town cannot exist. It cannot be a huge city, lacking the necessary skyscrapers to house a multi million people population, but it has all the amenities of large towns, from well stocked and funded museums to casinos and other enterprises that need a large customer base to be profitable, plus it is visited by foreign dignitaries and is considered as the host of Olympic games. Still we only get to see a fairly small amount of people altogether, let alone be introduced to more than a few dozen. There is also a surprising lack of traffic (unless needed for the script), but it has an international airport.
Then there's the geography. You have a beach right in front of it, yet huge mountains like the murderhorn and a skiing resort right behind it. And somewhere near is also a desert and what seems to be some kind of swamp/jungle and a seriously huge forest. It's equally close to Mexico and Canada.
Face it, it cannot be anywhere. But that's ok, that's not important. It gives the writers a lot more freedom, by giving the town access to whatever public building or service they need for their script, as well as any environment needed.
Why do you need to pinpoint it on a map? It is simply not necessary for anything.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Nowhere does he say that the Simpson's Springfield is in Oregon. He says it's named after a fictitious Springfield that resided in Oregon from another TV show. Naming it after another town doesn't make it that town any more than naming my child after me makes him me. There is no "real" Springfield and that was the creators intent; to make Springfield everywhere. He states that very clearly. people need to learn how to read.
Isn't Oregon the Shelbyville of the pacific north west?
I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do.
Mine is Springfield, Massachusetts.. I knew it had nothing to do with the one on the show. The TV "Springfield" is way to nice to be the one in Massachusetts.. Not nearly enough stabbings or hobo's on the TV show to be my Springfield. :-/
I have to return some videotapes...
Seriously?
What's that I read about a nuclear melt-down in Japan? Something about a 12-mile exclusion zone? Aren't the original ninjas from Japan?
Seems like you could build a kick ass back story that is true to the original based on current events, why bother with this aliens crap?
I'd like to see a cartoon with normal 5 fingered people.
Try any random anime. Or look at the Marios in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
Springfield, OR [...] hasn't ever been taken over by aliens
Were Native Americans living in what is now Lane County when Elias and Mary Briggs invaded? If so, that'd make the Briggses "aliens" (as in "not citizens").
Mat, ". . . I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown."
He does have quite the imagination.
Pickering is Springfield
It doesn't rain nearly enough on the show, and there's not enough bars (just Moe's).
OTOH, I can see the characters based on the townfolk in general...
(Disclosure: I live near PDX.)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Steve sister is probably the inspiration for the Homer's mother "Mona Simpson". And her ex-husband possible the the surname for the family itself.
I didn't realize the CREATOR of the show could make Oregon border Ohio, Maine, and Kentucky. I stand corrected.
Given that Groening only is the creator of the show in so far as it was him who wrote the story down, I wouldn't put to much weight on these inconsistencies.
Who knows what else he got wrong when he first tried to turn the true inspirations into TV episodes. And since the original golden tablets are lost we might never know.
Regarding the location of Springfield I personally would rather trust Lisa Simpson than Matt Groening.
It's obviously Springfield, Vermont. For one thing, my girlfriend says it is. And to substantiate my claim, Ned Flanders seems like the type of guy you might get in Vermont. I rest my case.
I do seem to recall an episode where Marge (perhaps in conversation with Lisa) was about to reveal the location of Springfield but interrupted herself to shout a greeting to Moe, which went something like [blah blah blah] Springfield OH HI MOE (obviously echoing "Ohio"). Guess they changed their mind...
Oregon has so much hydroelectric power available that Mr. Burns' shoddy Nuclear plant would never have been built... let alone survive.
Those who lived in Springfield/Eugene Oregon always knew.
1. Matt Groening was from Oregon.
2. They have a statute of the founder of the town(Jebediah Springfield), and Eugene has a statue of its founder Eugene Skinner.
3. Principal's name is Skinner.
4. There's a Nuclear plant nearby.
There's probably more. Actually, I always heard Matt was from Springfield.
How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
In one of the episodes, which featured a biography of the family, they are described explicitly as a north Kentucky family. As evidence you'll see Shelbyville, KY http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Shelbyville,+KY just north of Springfield http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Springfield,+KY and there's even a place called Simpsonville http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Simpsonville,+KY just west of Shelbyville. I have no idea why they want to change their story now.
In the interview, Groening says "Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon". He doesn't say that the Simpsons' Springfield is in Oregon.
Matt Groening has a sister named Lisa. His parents names are Marge and Homer (for real). I would have no doubts that he had a pet named "Santa's Little Helper", and a neighbour named Ned that had religious aspirations. Its all good.
For some reason it gave me great pleasure to imagine his voice when I read your post.
This has been known since season 5 or so.