History WhereTheHellIsSpringfield / Film

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' is generally assumed to take place in Denmark, for being the country of origin of Creator/HansChristianAndersen, and due to the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen (This is also helped by the fact that Ariel meets Andersen in an episode of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 animated series]], which implies that she inspired him to write [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid the original book]]). The only argument against this is the fact that the animators based the sealife on Caribbean species, as Sebastian's Jamaican accent might hint (Sebastian himself was confirmed to have been born off the coast of Jamaica, "hence the accent", in the episode "Tail of Two Crabs"). An easy enough way to square this circle is to assume it takes place in the ''Danish West Indies'' (today the US Virgin Islands), which existed from 1672 to 1917.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' is generally assumed to take place in Denmark, for being the country of origin of Creator/HansChristianAndersen, and due to the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen (This is also helped by the fact that Ariel meets Andersen in an episode of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 animated series]], which implies that she inspired him to write [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid the original book]]). The only argument against this is the fact that the animators based the sealife on Caribbean species, as Sebastian's Jamaican accent might hint (Sebastian himself was confirmed to have been born off the coast of Jamaica, "hence the accent", in the episode "Tail of Two Crabs").

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' is generally assumed to take place in Denmark, for being the country of origin of Creator/HansChristianAndersen, and due to the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen (This is also helped by the fact that Ariel meets Andersen in an episode of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 animated series]], which implies that she inspired him to write [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid the original book]]) .The only argument against this is the fact that the animators based the sealife on Caribbean species, as Sebastian's Jamaican accent might hint (Sebastian himself was confirmed to have been born off the coast of Jamaica, "hence the accent", in the episode "Tail of Two Crabs").

* The enemy country in both ''Film/TopGun'' films is never named and doesn't cleanly correspond to any real-world country. They're located within flight range of the Indian Ocean, but fly Soviet/Russian aircraft painted with a red star, which would seem to indicate a Warsaw Pact state or a Soviet 'stan. They also have a cadeuceus-like roundel. ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' adds that they have a nuclear program against the wishes of the UN, plus a small number of old F-14s, which corresponds to Iran, but they also have Su-57s, which Russia hasn't sold to any other country yet.

* ''Film/{{Footloose}}'' takes place in Beaumont. Many viewers assume it’s meant to be Beaumont, Texas, but dialogue references (''e.g.'', being within driving distance of Chicago) place it somewhere in the Midwest. The stage version lampshades this (see Theatre below).
** The [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory story]] Footloose is based on occurred in Elmore City, OK. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_City,_Oklahoma )

* ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'': A specific location isn't given for Anville; a close-up of the contract's text states that it's located in "Lewis & Clark County", which [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_County,_Montana is a real county in Montana.]] (The filming took place in California, in the town of Pomona, and in parts of the Simi Valley).
** The Cat does point out when driving the wrong way on a one way street that the truck has a Rhode Island and says to the children that they really don’t one of those around Anville hinting that it’s not in or near Rhode Island.

* ''Film/Gremlins1984'': The first film takes care not to mention where [[EverytownAmerica Kingston Falls]] is located or which "Chinatown" Rand visited. Most of it was shot on the Universal Studios backlot, using the same small town sets that would be used for ''Film/BackToTheFuture1''. However, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the script]], Kingston Falls is located somewhere in Pennsylvania and the sequel establishes that Mr. Wing's shop is in New York City.

** That said, most fans believe that the films take place somewhere on the East Coast, specifically around UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, as that city's skyline was used in establishing shots of ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'', and while the license plates seen in the films leave off the name of the state, their style resembles that of UsefulNotes/NewJersey plates (which is right across the Delaware River from Philly, implying a South Jersey location specifically).

* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise is set in an unnamed American city (and its police department is known simply as the "Metropolitan Police Department"), with the only clear hint to the location being the TV network WNKW, implying that it's east of the Mississippi River. Darren Lynn Bousman [[https://www.moviemaker.com/where-do-the-saw-movies-take-place-spiral-director-explains-why-youll-never-know/ said]] that the producers deliberately keep the location ambiguous to the point of not even permitting driving shots.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The franchise is set in an unnamed American city (and its police department is known simply as the "Metropolitan Police Department"), with the only clear hint to the location being the TV network WNKW, implying that it's east of the Mississippi River. Darren Lynn Bousman [[https://www.moviemaker.com/where-do-the-saw-movies-take-place-spiral-director-explains-why-youll-never-know/ said]] that the producers deliberately keep the location ambiguous to the point of not even permitting driving shots.

* ''Film/Se7en'' takes place in an unnamed American city. Some take it to be Seattle due to much of the film taking place on rainy days. WordOfGod, on the other hand, calls the film Andrew Kevin Walker's "love letter to New York City".

* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise is set in an unnamed American city (its police department being known as the "Metropolitan Police Department"), with the only hint as to the location being the TV network WNKW, implying that it's east of the Mississippi River. Darren Lynn Bousman (the director of ''Film/SawII'', ''Film/SawIII'', ''Film/SawIV'' and ''[[Film/Spiral2021 Spiral]]'') [[https://www.moviemaker.com/where-do-the-saw-movies-take-place-spiral-director-explains-why-youll-never-know/ said]] that the producers deliberately keep the location ambiguous to the point of not even permitting driving shots. The license plates seen in the movies leave off the name of the state, although their style resembles that of [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]] ones. In [[Film/SawI the first film]], Tapp and Sing are seen using a map with the layout of Washington, D.C. ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'' further establishes that the series doesn't take place in Cleveland, as Eleanor is offered the position of medical examiner in that city. That said, most fans believe that the films take place somewhere on the East Coast, specifically around UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, whose skyline was used in establishing shots of ''Spiral''.

* ''Film/Gremlins1984'': The first film takes care not to mention where [[EverytownAmerica Kingston Falls]] is located or which "Chinatown" Rand visited. Most of it was shot on the Universal Studios backlot, using the same small town sets as ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. However, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the script]], Kingston Falls is located somewhere in Pennsylvania and the sequel establishes that Mr. Wing's shop is in New York City.

* Zigzagged in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movies. Originally, there was no need to name Indy’s home town (although the maps showed it was somewhere in New England) or the college where he taught, and neither is given a name in the films. Novelizations and video games, however, do both, as the author found writing a novelization difficult without doing so. The town was named Bedford and put in Connecticut, and the school was named Marshall College after Frank Marshall, a collaborator of Creator/StevenSpielberg and producer on all four films. It did, though, conflict with the video game ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'', which called the school “Barnett College” – fans [[FanWank theorize]] that Indy teaches at more than one school.

* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' takes place in a generic [[OopNorth Northern English town]], though when Wallace gets post, the address can be briefly seen as "62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan." Other hints also suggest a Lancashire setting; though ironically (given the counties' infamous rivalry) Creator/PeterSallis' voice acting gives Wallace a Yorkshire accent.
* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'' is set on a farm in [[OopNorth Northern England]], which could be pretty much anywhere. ([[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] claims it's in Yorkshire.)

** Averted with ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed''. The film takes place very specifically in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, [[CanadaEh Canada]].

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' is generally assumed to take place in Denmark, for being the country of origin of Creator/HansChristianAndersen, and due to the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. (This is also helped by the fact that Ariel meets Andersen in an episode of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 animated series]], which implies that she inspired him to write [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid the original book]].) The only argument against this is the fact that the animators based the sealife on Caribbean species, as Sebastian's Jamaican accent might hint. (Sebastian himself was confirmed to have been born off the coast of Jamaica, "hence the accent", in the episode "Tail of Two Crabs".)

* ''Film/Se7en'' takes place in an unnamed American city. Some take it to be Seattle due to much of the film taking place on rainy days. WordOfGod, on the other hand, calls the film Andrew Kevin Walker's "love letter to New York City."

* Subverted by the opening voiceover of Creator/DannyBoyle's ''Film/ShallowGrave'', which states that "this could be any city," though actually there's no real mystery about the location -- it's Edinburgh.

* ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'': A specific location isn't given for Anville; a close-up of the contract's text states that it's located in "Lewis & Clark County", which [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_County,_Montana is a real county in Montana.]] (The filming took place in California, in the town of Pomona, and in parts of the Simi Valley.)

* ''Film/ThePhantom1943'' is set in The Jungle, with no explicit statement of where this jungle is. The latter half of the serial introduces a warlord known as the Tartar, which would suggest an Asian setting... except that despite their clothing and interior decorations, he and his retinue are clearly white men. The fauna and flora are the usual Hollywood mishmash, but the natives, clothing, and architecture are suggestive of South America. (Which is interesting, because although the location of the Phantom's home jungle moved around quite a bit in the early years of the comic, South America is one place it never was.)
* ''Film/ThisLandIsMine'': The movie is set in an unnamed location in Nazi-occupied Europe. The opening text identifies the setting only as "somewhere in Europe". The opening shot features a newspaper headline that says "HITLER INVADES" with the name of the country torn off. There are no flags. When talking about the occupiers and the resistance George only says "our country."

* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' takes place in a generic [[OopNorth Northern English town]], though when Wallace gets post, the address can be briefly seen as “62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan.” Other hints also suggest a Lancashire setting; though ironically (given the counties' infamous rivalry) Peter Sallis' voice acting gives Wallace a Yorkshire accent.

* ''Film/Gremlins1984'': The first film takes care not to mention where [[EverytownAmerica Kingston Falls]] is located or which "Chinatown" Rand visited. Most of it was shot on the Universal Studios backlot, using the same small town sets as ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. However, the novelization and sequel establishes that Kingston Falls is located somewhere in Pennsylvania and Mr. Wing's shop is in New York City.