Everytown, America: Difference between revisions

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Where most [[Steven Spielberg]] films take place.

Basically, if an American film or TV show doesn't take place in a famous big city, it will be set in some version of Everytown, America. Everytown, America is a usually fictional town or small city containing pastel suburbs, a single elementary/[[High School]] (depending how old the main characters are) with the same name as the town, and a main street or town square of some kind. [[Everybody Owns a Ford|Everyone drives a Chevy]] and has a fondness for apple pie. Most people will be friendly except for the [[Pointy Haired Boss]], the [[Alpha Bitch]] or the [[Jerk Jock]]. Anyone worse than that will be an invader from some big city or [[The Government]].

Basically, if an American film or TV show doesn't take place in a famous big city, it will be set in some version of Everytown, America. Everytown, America is a usually fictional town or small city containing pastel suburbs, a single elementary/[[High School]] (depending how old the main characters are) with the same name as the town, and a main street or town square of some kind. [[Everybody Owns a Ford|Everyone drives a Chevy]] and has a fondness for apple pie. Most people will be friendly except for the [[Pointy-Haired Boss]], the [[Alpha Bitch]] or the [[Jerk Jock]]. Anyone worse than that will be an invader from some big city or [[The Government]].

[[Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here]] (or at least it didn't until the aliens/vampires/witches/whatever showed up). The town's history, if discussed at all, will probably be very simple (usually it will have been named after whoever founded it -- there might be [[Our Founder|a statue of him]]) and everyone living there will be familiar with the story. The characters may become routinely involved in city affairs, which will usually consist of convincing the city council not to tear down some historic building or to clean up the local park so all the children can happily play there.

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To be fair, there ''are'' a lot of towns like this in the U.S.A., but it also taps into a very powerful vein of nostalgia about what kind of town many Americans ''wish'' they lived in.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

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* Westbridge, Massachusetts of ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]''.

* Subverted with Sunnydale, California in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. {{spoiler|The whole point of founding the town was for a cultist to create the [[Hell Gate|Hellmouth]]}}.

* Wellsville of ''[[The Adventures of Pete and Pete]]''. Also an example of [[Where the Hell Is Springfield]].

* Wellsville of ''[[The Adventures of Pete and Pete]]''. Also an example of [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?]].

** One episode stated that it's in Michigan, if I recall correctly.

* Pawnee, Indiana of ''[[Parks and Recreation (TV)|Parks and Recreation]]'', creating an aversion of [[Down On the Farm]] at the same time.

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* [[First Town|Onett]], from ''Videogame/Earthbound'' is the quintessential '80s Amer- er, [[Eagle Land|Eaglandian]] town, replete with school, burger joint, arcade, City Hall and gang of street toughs. And a meteor, but we don't talk about the meteor. See also [[Deep South|Twoson]] and [[~~Theres~~ No B in Movie|Threed]] for variations on the theme, but Onett plays it to the hilt.

* [[First Town|Onett]], from ''Videogame/Earthbound'' is the quintessential '80s Amer- er, [[Eagle Land|Eaglandian]] town, replete with school, burger joint, arcade, City Hall and gang of street toughs. And a meteor, but we don't talk about the meteor. See also [[Deep South|Twoson]] and [[There's No B in Movie|Threed]] for variations on the theme, but Onett plays it to the hilt.

* Podunk, from ''[[MOTHER 1 (Video Game)|Mother]]'' is a prototype of Onett.

* ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'' also starts in the town of Podunk. It's a popular name.

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* Radiator Springs in ''[[Cars]]''.

* Played surprisingly straight in ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]''. Only occasionally does anyone wonder why so much seems to happen in an otherwise anonymous Colorado town, and no explanation is ever given.

* Middleton, home of ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]'', besides appearing to be a hotbed of science labs and the odd [[Supervillain Lair]]. Part of a tri-city area including Lowerton and Upperton, and a case of [[Where the Hell Is Springfield]].

* Middleton, home of ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]'', besides appearing to be a hotbed of science labs and the odd [[Supervillain Lair]]. Part of a tri-city area including Lowerton and Upperton, and a case of [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?]].

* The show ''[[Hey Arnold (Animation)|Hey Arnold]]'' takes place in the fictional American city of Hillwood.

* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents (Animation)|The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' is set in Dimmsdale, California. An average American town filled with weirdness, in part because of Timmy Turner and his fairies.

* Subverted in ''[[Earthworm Jim (Animation)|Earthworm Jim]]''. Terlawk, New Jersey has a crappy strip mall and a couple of old guys sitting on a porch predicting rain with their kneecaps, but every week they sit and not only watch the alien invasion, but explain that one or the other of them may have caused it. Also, they live next door to a giant earthworm in an alien power suit.

* Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, even after ''[[Wesern Animation/Rocky And Bullwinkle|Rocky And Bullwinkle]]'' got famous.

* Peach Creek of ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy (Animation)|Ed, Edd n Eddy]]''. The craziness that ensues there is usually from the Eds' antics.

* Peach Creek of ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy (Animation)|Ed, Edd n Eddy]]''. The craziness that ensues there is usually from the Eds' antics.

* Hazelnut of ''[[Pepper Ann]]''.

* Quahog, Rhode Island of ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]''.