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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.'"
Sure, but according to the principle of the Death of the Author (warning - TVTropes link), unless it's made clear in the text, the author's opinion has no weight when it comes to an interpretation.
Based entirely on the work it seems quite clear that Springfield is nowhere, or anywhere depending on how you want to look at it, this allowing the viewer to consider it to be somewhere relevant to himself.