Gravity falls is there such a city? Interview with the creator of Gravity Falls. What is really known about the city?

The animated series "Gravity Falls" has attracted many fans, causing them to question whether the city exists in reality. Or is this just a figment of the writers' imagination? To find out this point, it is worth turning to the plot of the series and the place where its action takes place.

Information from the animated series of the same name

According to the plot of the animated series, two twins named Dipper and Mabel Pines spend the holidays with their great-uncle Stan in the city of Gravity Falls. Stan himself is the owner of a tourist souvenir shop, like our souvenir shop, which sells Gravity Falls paraphernalia:, or entire ones. called "Mystery Shack".

The teenagers are bored for a while, but then discover that strange phenomena are taking place in the city and its surroundings. They find descriptions of all sorts of anomalies in the town. The heroes are trying to unravel all the secrets of the town of Gravity Falls.

From this moment their adventures begin, during which they find themselves in various mysterious places and meet various creatures.

The setting of the cartoon's plot is Oregon. The prototype of the city could be the town of Boring, located in the same state where the action of the animated series takes place. The town of Boring is located near Portland near the Cascade Mountains.

The town was founded in 1842 by the eighth and a half US President Quentin Trembley. But as stated in the story, Nathaniel Northwest was eventually named as the founder of the city. President Trembley was removed from the list of presidents and the fact of his participation in the founding of the town was hidden.

A brief history of the city based on the cartoon plot

As mentioned above, the city was founded in 1842. Previously, these places were inhabited by indigenous people, who was forced to leave them due to the predictions of his shaman Modok about the coming Strangemageddon (The End of the World). Then the valley was populated by gold miners, calling the place the “cursed land” due to the frequent sightings of UFOs and strange mystical creatures.

Then Trembley arrived in these places, and after one unsuccessful ride on horseback, he decided to establish a settlement here. He himself came up with the name for the town.

The place was originally a small village and flourished during the Gold Rush era. Then came the so-called flannel fever. Both events in the history of the city fit into one year. Then the gold miners left the place, afraid of dinosaurs in the local mines.

In the 60s In the 19th century, the settlement experienced a boom in population growth. And the year 1883 was marked by a series of incidents, from the disappearance of the city's founder to the so-called Great Flood and Great Train Wreck.

What is really known about the city?

Reliable information about the existence of Gravity Falls in real life unknown. Even if you look at a map of the United States, you won’t find a single settlement with that name. The very fact of fiction is confirmed by the scriptwriters of the cartoon. They explain that no specific locality was taken as the prototype of the city.

The very origin of the name of the town, which was invented by the scriptwriters, is interesting. The name Gravity Falls can literally be translated from English as “gravity falls.” This is a play on words, invented to create an atmosphere of mystery and mystery of the place in which the series takes place.

Many cartoon fans find a certain similarity between Gravity Falls and real-life towns in Oregon. It's about about the above-mentioned town of Boring and the town of Vortex. Both settlements, according to some sources, are paranormal zones. However, there is no official proof of this fact.

If you look at any photo of the area in Oregon, you can stumble upon places similar to the landscape of the cartoon. Most likely, the creators really took a real US state as the place where the plot unfolds. And the image of the town turned out to be a collective image of the numerous settlements in the country. It is safe to say that Gravity Falls does not exist in real life.

Interweaving fiction and real facts

In the cartoon, the setting is the valley of the same name, Gravity Falls (or Gravity Falls, which is closer to the original spelling). Maps of the United States do not show a single territory designated by this name. Therefore, the name of the valley is fictitious.

The story says that a UFO landed in these parts, which also does not fit with real facts. But it is worth noting that UFO sightings did occur in Oregon. It is possible that the scriptwriters took this data into account when choosing the location for the animated series.

Another fact that proves that Gravity Falls does not exist in real life speaks about the history of its foundation. She is completely fictional because:

• in the entire history of the United States there was no president named Quentin Trembley, nor a certain Nathaniel Northwest;
• Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States;
• the reference in the series to the eighth and a half President of the United States is a fiction and a joke by the writers;
• the town could not have been founded in 1842 by the eighth president of the United States, because. in those years, the 10th president, John Tyler, was already in power.

The creators of the series made a reference to JK Rowling's work about the wizard Harry Potter. The name Quentin Trembley is reminiscent of a modified name of Quentin Trimble, who was one of the headmasters at Hogwarts School in the Harry Potter series of novels.

The animated series Gravity Falls was released back in 2012 and has since gained great popularity. There are currently two seasons, the latest of which began on February 15 this year.
Its main plot revolves around 12-year-old twins Mabel and Dipper Pines, who spend their summer holidays in the small town of Gravity Falls, which is located in Oregon. Its name is translated into Russian as “dangerous fall.” In his area, in the forest and river, there are many strange creatures, and under the water there is a huge scary head. According to the history of the town, it was founded in 1842 by Sir Lord Quentin Trumble III, after he fell from a cliff on his horse at this place.
From the moment the cartoon appeared on the screen, everyone became terribly interested - does the city of Gravity Falls really exist or is it fiction?
Unfortunately, this is really just another fictional city. It does not actually exist - neither in the state of Oregon, nor anywhere else in the United States in the form in which the filmmakers describe it.

On the other hand, his image combines several different towns of the American outback, similar friends on a friend “like two drops.” After much analysis and reflection, fans of the cartoon came to the conclusion that it at least combined the towns of Vortex and Boring, in the same state of Oregon. There has been a reputation for some kind of paranormality about them for a long time.

The Gravity Falls valley itself does not actually exist either, because it was created by a spaceship during landing. And a UFO has never landed in this state! Although in the state of Oregon, again, there is one slightly similar place. See for yourself:

So there are a lot of mysteries, of course. But do not forget that this is just a cartoon and it is a figment of the author’s imagination.

After a break in whole year, Gravity Falls is finally returning for Season 2! The brainchild of a prodigy Alexa Hirsha features the supernatural misadventures of twins Dipper and Mabel Pines, who spend their summer vacation with "Uncle" Stan in fictional city Gravity Falls, Oregon. So far they have encountered many creatures, ranging from hordes of dwarves to elderly ghosts. There is a part from The Simpsons in the cartoon, X-Files and Twin Peaks.

Time caught up with Hirsch and asked about various things related to Gravity Falls. A G4SKY We kindly translated their interview for you.

When did you first realize you wanted to make cartoons?

As far as I know, I've always wanted to make cartoons. When I went to CalArts, I was in a class with other weird, like-minded people, some of whom went on to work on shows, like J.G. Guintel is over Regular Show and Pen Ward is over Adventure Time. We were great friends, nudging each other and laughing a lot. It was a direct transition from inexperienced children watching Disney cartoons to children at heart creating these same cartoons.

What was your favorite cartoon as a child?

The Simpsons! Well, of course The Simpsons, I loved them because they were not limited in their audience. Many children's shows were insular. There was something about The Simpsons...growing up I could tell it was smarter than me. I could tell where there were layers and moments and hidden jokes that I couldn't understand, but I always understood the characters. Great shows have layers like these, for wide audience, some of which are interesting for children, and some for adults.

You've talked about wanting to create a show for all ages. How did you go about this?

There's one way to do it, you don't have to think about anyone when you're doing the show. The best way to create a great show, it's about creating a show that you love. Trust yourself. Do I think it's funny? Do I like it? And if you like it and think it's funny, then you just have to trust that others will like it too. I may be a very immature adult. I'm kind of an adult-child, so if I like it, then both kids and adults will like it, because I'm somewhere in the middle.

Alex Hirsch drew himself in the style of Gravity Falls

Your show is darker than most other children's shows. Now that you've moved to Disney XD, will the tone of the film remain the same?

We were told the show would be moving to Disney XD mid-season, so there was no coordinated conversation about changing the tone and direction of the series. Although in the second season with general style and we experiment much more with tone than in the first one. The first season introduced us to the characters, introduced us to the mythology, and just tried to be funny and fun as much as possible. In Season 2, we dig much deeper into the mythology and our heroes take many more risks, more intense situations and more menacing villains. As a result, the “conspiracy-something like secret materials-horror stories” line will gain a larger and stronger scope. But we still hope to balance this kind of plot with the traditional Gravity Falls outlandish and funny episodes.

What was the first character you created?

In second grade I drew a face on a paper bag, I gave him a cape and named him Super Paper Bag Man. My creativity was pretty limited at the time. Luckily, the Super Paper Bag Man went to waste, forcing me to come up with other better ideas.

Who is your favorite hero in Gravity Falls?

In the penultimate episode of our first season, we introduced this villainous, mischievous triangle. He's a pyramid with one eye and a bow tie named Bill Cipher. We conceived of him at the beginning of the season, that this could be fun, a similar character that DC has with their Mister Mxyzptlk, a kind of idiot who can just appear and ruin all the plans of the main characters. It's fun for me to create the most sinister, Illuminati-like symbol with Mr. Peanut's hands and throw it into the structure of the show and see how it all fits together. They sent me a lot of letters and photos on Twitter, people are getting tattoos with him! It's hilarious when your favorite character is also liked by the children of America.

Dipper and Mabel are based on you and your sister, are there other characters in the show based on relatives or acquaintances?

Handyman Zus was 100% inspired by a college friend of mine named Jesus. He is friendly, welcoming and very strange. He's the kind of guy who gets stuck in the gravity of college even after graduation, he tries to help everyone. I definitely wanted to add a character like this to my series.

The reason why Mabel has domestic pig named Waddles - this is because my sister always dreamed of having a pet pig when we were growing up. She wanted to make a pig shrine in her room.

You personally voiced two characters: Zus and Uncle Stan. What was your inspiration for creating these voices?

The inspiration for these voices came primarily from the people we were based on. Great Uncle Stan was based on my grandfather Stan on my father's side, whom I didn't know very well. But he was a big, rough guy who wore gold chain and a gold watch and valued every cent. As far as I remember, he spoke in such a rough voice in a lower register. However, while the character was inspired by my Grandpa Stan, his voice was inspired by my other Grandpa Bill. Every time I see him at Thanksgiving he always says, “Roll out the red carpet, Mr. Hollywood has finally decided to pay us a visit.” So I was heavily influenced by his voice and the way he spoke.

Zus was inspired by my friend Jesus. His manner of speech cannot be completely copied correctly. It's hard to describe, but I still copied some elements and used them for Zus.

The ugly truth is that my entire summer vacation was surprisingly boring. Dipper's Adventures is mostly a list of things I've dreamed of doing. When I was a child, I spent those long, long summer holidays at my great-aunt's cabin in the woods. She said: “And so, three hours of reading!” and locked us in a room with a large window. It was so dull that I imagined beating dwarves or fighting aliens or looking for the Loch Ness monster. With this series I have a chance to make my dreams come true, at least on screen.

Do you have advice for people who want to make their own TV series?

It's all about the characters. No matter what your series looks like, no matter its concept, no matter famous actors in voice acting, regardless of budget or otherwise, it’s all secondary. Your heroes should come first. They're funny? Are their personalities well established? Do they interact with each other? All this must be taken into account. And my main super-advice for any series creator is to write what you know and look back at your own life. I think the most successful element about the characters in Gravity Falls is that they are all taken from images real people, I write about myself and my sister, about my cartoonish grandfather with elements of a great deal of humor. If you can copy the characters from the people around you and put them into a series, then it will be much better than if you focus on “how can I make characters with complex mythologies.” In the end, this is why people love such living heroes with whom they can associate themselves, and this is the most important thing.

Do you have ideas that you would never add to the show?

For each episode, there are at least 10 fully fleshed out development concepts that were rejected and discarded for being too stupid or too serious.

What's the hardest part about running your show?

This is creating consistent quality content over 20 episodes when you are a producer, screenwriter, director, designer and voice actor. All this together. When you're in college, you can create one cartoon a year or even throughout your entire studies, you have a lot of time to dot all the i's and make sure everything is as you need it. When you're on TV, you work more like an assembly line. Not all episodes are A+, but I try to keep track of every detail as much as possible.

Gravity Falls - famous for its paranormal phenomena, a mysterious town that is the main setting in animated series of the same name. The first episodes began to be released back in 2012, and only with the end of two seasons in 2016 was it officially completed. The animated series gained considerable popularity, which could not but lead to the emergence of a topic of interest to every viewer about the existence of the strange city of Gravity Falls in real life. To answer this question, you need to turn to the plot of the picture.

What is the animated series about?

Twin children Dipper and Mabel Pines come for the summer to visit their great-uncle Stan, who, although he does not believe in the supernatural and magic, owns a souvenir shop called “The Mystery Shack,” where all the main characters of the series live. Here are collected a variety of fakes, forgeries and deceptions for visiting tourists. As it turns out later, the store itself holds many secrets that the heroes have yet to unravel.

The boredom that descended on the brother and sister at first soon dissipated, because while exploring the surrounding area, they managed to find diary number 3, telling about a variety of mystical phenomena in the area. Determined to solve the mysteries unusual place, Dipper becomes a regular participant in dangerous undertakings. The prototypes of the Gravity Falls characters in real life were acquaintances of the creator of the animated series.

Gravity Falls characters and prototypes in reality

The following can be said about the characters themselves:. Dipper Pines is one of the main characters of the animated series. His name is apparently a nickname, because on the hero’s forehead there is a constellation of a bucket of moles, and in translation from English dipper is a bucket. Interesting facts about the main character:

Mabel Pines - Dipper's sister, distinguished by its cheerful and uncomplicated character. Always excited to embark on a new adventure, no matter the dire circumstances. Being an active person, she enjoys chatting with her friends, wearing flashy clothes and doing the most interesting things. different hobbies. It's enough for Mabel to fall in love handsome guy just show up in Gravity Falls. The character was most likely based on the author's sister, Ariel.

Other characters:

City location on screens

The city in the cartoon is located in Oregon, apparently because as a child the author of the series went on vacation to these parts with his sister. Gravity Falls was founded in 1842 by one of the US presidents, Quentin Trembley, after he fell on a horse from a local cliff.

Despite this, this fact was hidden for an unknown purpose, and Nathaniel Northwest was named as the founder of the city. As we learn in the course of the story, before the gold seekers and the president himself appeared here, the valley was inhabited by an indigenous population who left these places due to the prophecy of Shaman Modoc. It said that Weirdmageddon was coming in the near future.

What is really known about the city?

No data on previously existing or currently existing populated areas nothing with the same name is known. The authors argue that there is no point in turning to a map and trying to find something similar, after all, the town is not located anywhere and was invented, however, real existing places were taken as a basis. They also found the glory of mysterious settlements.

As fans of the animated series have noticed, Gravity Falls is indeed very similar to its prototypes, the town of Boring and the small town of Vortex, from which it was drawn. Looking at photographs of Oregon landscapes, it is quite easy to agree that many of the sketches are similar to places that exist in life. So, for example, you can find a valley very similar to the drawn valley of Gravity Falls.

Thus, it can be said that Gravity Falls doesn't exist in real life, and is presented only collectively remote towns lost in the Oregon forests, filled with various interesting stories, secrets and riddles.

As for the name, Gravity Falls can be translated from English as “gravity falls.” Such a verbal pun adds even more mystery to the whole interesting story, which even adult viewers are ready to solve with enthusiasm.

Since 2012, the animated series Gravity Falls (or Gravity Falls, which would be more consistent with the original writing) has gained wide popularity among youth and adult audiences. On this moment the creators presented two seasons and an official ending, which, although it has hints of a continuation, does not give fans hope for a third season.

In contact with

Classmates

As you know, this cartoon is famous for its secret messages., codes and references that viewers love to unravel. At the end of each episode, a code is dictated in a whisper, and throughout the cartoon, you can notice the order of numbers in the background or in individual frames. By putting together sentences or words in this way, you can get hints for the next episodes or give fans the opportunity to fantasize about secret meaning Gravity Falls.

Despite the fact that after the creators of Gravity Falls officially revealed all the cards and put out a list of all the codes of the cartoon, fans believe that the cartoon still contains many secrets. Every day appears on the Internet more and more different theories, Easter eggs and other “conspiracy theories” that fans come up with. One of the favorite topics for discussion in narrow circles of fans is the origin and existence of the city of Gravity Falls - a small area teeming with various supernatural beings and monsters.

From the moment the animated series began appearing on TV screens, many began to wonder - does Gravity Falls really exist?

Does the city really exist?

No matter how offensive it may be to realize, but this city is really fictional for the project. Many fans posted false information that the city was in Oregon (as stated in the cartoon) and displayed fake photographs of supposedly objects that were presented in the cartoon. By at least, it is impossible to say that the city lives in the form in which it was presented in the animated series.

But you can consider another interesting fact . In fact, Gravity Falls is a combined image of several little-known and small towns. Some fans have been thinking about this theory for a long time and have come to the conclusion that there are indeed some similarities with Vortex and Boring, which, by the way, are also located in Oregon. The towns are famous for their paranormal incidents and local residents come up with interesting legends O different creatures that live there.

If you remember the plot of the original cartoon, the city was created as a result of the landing spaceship. A UFO has never been observed in the state, so this once again proves the impossibility of Gravity Falls existing in reality. But still some fans notice interesting places, vaguely or even very openly reminiscent of some of the background areas of the city from the cartoon.

The creators of this project themselves admitted that they came up with the city completely out of their heads and it would not be possible to find exactly the same village in any of the states. Of course, it cannot be completely avoided some coincidences and similarities with other areas, but the real Gravity Falls is unlikely to be found.

Gravity Falls characters in real life

Another mystery for fans of this animated series is the reality of the characters shown in the project. If we talk about the main characters in the cartoon, then these are:

• Twins Mabel and Dipper Pines.
• Stanford Pines.
• Wendy.

Minor characters:

• Robbie Valentino.
• Gideon.
• Feedford McGuckett.
• Bill Cipher.
• Thomson Larkins.
• Jaydan Hicksters Nate.
• Tambry Fanlis.

Guys often clash with minor characters, which also greatly influenced the development of the plot of the cartoon as a whole. The question of whether these characters are real is controversial. In fact, of course, neither Dipper, nor Mabel, nor Uncle Stan exists in fact, but the creator of Gravity Falls, Alex Hirsch, admitted in an interview that many habits and relationships were taken from real life. For example, he based the twins Mabel and Dipper on himself and his sister.

Also in one of the episodes you can remember that Dipper has moles in the form of a constellation Ursa Major. Hirsch laughed and replied that he was still school years he had a friend who had a lot of acne on his face. One day a friend came with the exact location Big Jug on the forehead, which served as a highlight in the image of Dipper.

Secrets and easter eggs of the animated series

As mentioned earlier, in Gravity Falls you can see a lot of interesting and hidden messages that even adults are captivated by. Indeed, if you sit with the cartoon for a while and look closely at the details, you will notice some references to next episodes.

Cryptograms

First of all, the inquisitive viewer notice the code that slips in at the beginning, throughout the series and at the end of the series. By doing simple manipulations with the alphabet, you can get some information about the city or characters. There is always a hidden code at the end for the next episode, which made fans very happy during the series' release.

Screensaver

Every person who listened to the popular melody from the animated series noticed a mysterious whisper at the end of the screensaver. When played back slowly, you can clearly hear "I'm Still Here." It occurred to some fans put the entry in the opposite direction, thus getting the sentence “Three letters back.” Caesar used this cipher, using the next third letter instead of the original one. Sometimes the phrase in the screensaver changes and makes it possible to understand which code to use. So, in two seasons it was possible to use the Atbash cipher, the substitution cipher and the Vigenère cipher.

For those who like to search for riddles and secrets and decipher them on their own, it is recommended to watch the cartoon in the original voice acting, since the translation very often lost hidden messages to the audience and it was not always possible to notice the Easter eggs so obviously.

Thus, Gravity Falls and its characters are clearly the invention of the creators of the animated series, but their high-quality reproduction of the project and a responsible approach to work made it possible to create a real masterpiece, which will certainly remain a leader in the list of “best animated series” for a long time.