# Why is Maine always portrayed on movies and TV as nothing but coast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240 "2015-08-07T15:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/1 "2015-08-07T15:31:35Z")
When I was growing up, my family had a cabin there, but it was on Moosehead Lake, 100 miles from the ocean. We spent the whole summer there for many years, plus some Christmas vacations (my parents were college professors), so probably close to a thousand days in the state altogether. I bet the number of them we spent within sight of the ocean could be counted on one hand. And it seems unlikely that my experience is some huge outlier, and the vast majority of the population is hugging the coast, given that I-95 (Maine’s only interstate highway) runs from the New Hampshire border to the Canadian border–and for the vast majority of that distance it is thirty miles or even more away from the shoreline. I wouldn’t complain if fictional representations were 80% coastal, even; but I can’t recall ever seeing _any_ depiction of a town in Maine that didn’t include lobster boats and all that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/2 "2015-08-07T15:36:27Z")
I can’t come up with names off the top of my head but I know I’ve seen some things set in the Maine woods. I mean, if nothing else there is always the Lake Placid series. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/3 "2015-08-07T15:40:42Z")
The same reason why films set in Africa have acacia trees and savannah. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/4 "2015-08-07T15:42:39Z")
Any part of Maine not adjoining water is just full of Pine trees. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/5 "2015-08-07T15:43:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The same reason why films set in Africa have acacia trees and savannah. Right, if you skip the coast, you might as well be in New Hampshire (or Canada). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/6 "2015-08-07T15:52:16Z")
I didn’t know Maine was ever portrayed at all. 🙂 At least unless you’re talking [Stephen King](http://stephenking.com/images/map_of_maine.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/7 "2015-08-07T16:00:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I didn’t know Maine was ever portrayed at all. 🙂 At least unless you’re talking [Stephen King](http://stephenking.com/images/map_of_maine.jpg). There is also _Dark Shadows_. Collinsport is, not surprisingly, a coastal town. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/8 "2015-08-07T16:07:19Z")
The coast is picturesque. The interior is pretty generic - you can find lakes and pine trees almost anywhere. The mountains aren’t spectacular either. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/9 "2015-08-07T16:07:27Z")
Many of Stephen King’s most famous works are set near Derry which is a fictional place that he meant to be a stand in for Bangor. So all of those books, miniseries and movies were not set on the coast. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/10 "2015-08-07T16:09:10Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I wouldn’t complain if fictional representations were 80% coastal, even; but I can’t recall ever seeing _any_ depiction of a town in Maine that didn’t include lobster boats and all that sort of thing. Chesters Mill from Under the Dome was based on Bridgton, which is not on the coast. It’s in the western lakes/ mountains region ~50 miles from the coast. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/11 "2015-08-07T16:14:28Z")
Not sure I agree with the OP’s premise. Maine doesn’t get much media exposure, on the coast OR the interior. Stephen King is about the only person who writes about Maine, and his stories are far more likely to take place in big, scary woods than on the beach. That said, the one thing Maine is famous for is lobster, and their biggest city is Portland. So, it’s probably true that outsiders think of the sea when they think of Maine. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/12 "2015-08-07T16:21:28Z")
Same as the reason that everyone in Connecticut belongs to a country club. Writers know what readers (or viewers) expect, and are almost always willing to use shortcuts. If they want to set a story in a depressed urban wasteland they will use Detroit and not Bridgeport. Takes less exposition, saves room for story. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/13 "2015-08-07T16:43:21Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I didn’t know Maine was ever portrayed at all. 🙂 At least unless you’re talking [Stephen King](http://stephenking.com/images/map_of_maine.jpg). _Murder She Wrote_ was set in Cabot Cove, Maine (on the coast, obviously). Pretty King-like for the amount of crime that went down there. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/14 "2015-08-07T16:44:19Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Same as the reason that everyone in Connecticut belongs to a country club. Writers know what readers (or viewers) expect, and are almost always willing to use shortcuts. If they want to set a story in a depressed urban wasteland they will use Detroit and not Bridgeport. Takes less exposition, saves room for story. Yep, and a goodly portion of the country thinks Colorado is all mountains. It’s easy. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/15 "2015-08-07T17:00:43Z")
Did _The Beans of Egypt, Maine_ have lobster boats? I don’t remember any. Also, I’m not sure it was ever revealed in the film where _On Golden Pond_ was supposed to be located, but I always placed it on a lake in interior Maine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/16 "2015-08-07T17:59:58Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > Yep, and a goodly portion of the country thinks Colorado is all mountains. It’s easy. Sure… but 2/3 of Colorado is more or less mountains, and the 1/3 that’s not is forbidding bleak grassland just like western Kansas. As to the OP’s question, it looks like the vast majority of the Maine population is within 30-40 miles of the coast. So if you’re going to have a show with something unique about Maine that’s set somewhere populated, then by default, it kind of has to be near the coast, otherwise, like others have said, it’s just pine trees and mountains that could be found anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/17 "2015-08-07T18:33:55Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Sure… but 2/3 of Colorado is more or less mountains, and the 1/3 that’s not is forbidding bleak grassland just like western Kansas. > > As to the OP’s question, it looks like the vast majority of the Maine population is within 30-40 miles of the coast. So if you’re going to have a show with something unique about Maine that’s set somewhere populated, then by default, it kind of has to be near the coast, otherwise, like others have said, it’s just pine trees and mountains that could be found anywhere. Noone ever remembers the desert. edit: _Maine’s_ desert, that is. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/18 "2015-08-07T20:13:50Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I’m not sure it was ever revealed in the film where _On Golden Pond_ was supposed to be located, but I always placed it on a lake in interior Maine. 🙂 Squam Lake, New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/19 "2015-08-08T01:06:41Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I wouldn’t complain if fictional representations were 80% coastal, even; but I can’t recall ever seeing _any_ depiction of a town in Maine that didn’t include lobster boats and all that sort of thing. Hah. Try and find any representation of Illinois that isn’t Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240/20 "2015-08-08T01:59:01Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The coast is picturesque. The interior is pretty generic - you can find lakes and pine trees almost anywhere. The mountains aren’t spectacular either. Wow, I just think nearly the exact opposite. To me, it’s the _coast_ of Maine that is pretty generic. I mean, to listen to you guys, one would think that Massachusetts or Long Island didn’t have similar stuff to offer. Whereas those places don’t have the kinds of rugged mountains, lakes, and woods that Maine has in abundance. > [@Procrustus](#): > > Right, if you skip the coast, you might as well be in New Hampshire (or Canada). NH has seaside towns as well. And when you cross the border to Quebec, it looks much different: the population density is suddenly much higher and there are far fewer trees, more towns and roads, etc. That’s an awesome place to visit, though: growing up we took many a drive to Quebec City. We just didn’t go east, except when it was time to go back home (to NC) at summer’s end. > [@bump](#): > > Sure… but 2/3 of Colorado is more or less mountains, and the 1/3 that’s not is forbidding bleak grassland just like western Kansas. If my family had vacationed in Colorado for a thousand days in my childhood and spent only five of those in the mountains, I would see that as having missed out (to say the least–it would be bizarre). But I think the people who only go to those coastal towns are the ones missing out. In Thoreau’s time, the resorts on Moosehead Lake were where it was at, even though the coast was obviously more easily accessible. This is my (and Thoreau’s) Maine: [http://www.mainetrailfinder.com/images/trails/trail-system/mtkineo\_1054-large.jpg](http://www.mainetrailfinder.com/images/trails/trail-system/mtkineo_1054-large.jpg) But over time, the tourism pattern has changed, and I don’t think these pop culture representations help any. > [@](#): > > As to the OP’s question, it looks like the vast majority of the Maine population is within 30-40 miles of the coast. I see plenty of pop culture depicting areas that are not the most heavily populated. (in fact, your two points contradict each other: most of Colorado’s population is not in the mountains). And even what we do see of Maine is rarely Portland; it’s usually small fishing villages. But even still: out of that strip of 30 or 40 miles you’re talking about, how much of that has ocean and lobster boats and so on actually within _view_? I doubt it’s more than 10%. BTW, it was _Olive Kitteridge_ on HBO that was the proximate cause of this complaint (although I do like the show so far other than this annoyance); but it was the proverbial straw. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-maine-always-portrayed-on-movies-and-tv-as-nothing-but-coast/727240.md?page=2)