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How Stranger Things Took Over the World (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Paula Davis and I'm Roger Bassic.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Spotlight Advanced uses a special English method of broadcasting. It
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: is easier for people to understand no matter where in
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the world they live. Mike, Will Dustin, and Lucas sit
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in the basement of a house playing a game. The
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: game is called Dungeons and Dragons. The focus of this
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: game is storytelling. The group of players tells a story.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: They guide their imaginary heroes through dangerous times. They search
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: for treasure, They battle deadly foes and monsters. They attempt
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: daring rescues. Will, Dustin and Lucas create characters such as elves, dwarfs,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: or human worriers for their imaginary adventures.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Mike is the dungeon master. He tells the story and
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: controls the details of the imaginary world. The boy's characters
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: must fight monsters and solve problems. Each of their characters
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: could die at any minute. The four boys love the game.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: They play it all the time in Mike's basement. When
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: they finish playing, Will, Lucas and Dustin ride their bicycles home.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Dustin and Lucas had in a different direction than Will
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: As Will rides alone. He sees a frightening creature in
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the road. Will is so frightened that he crashes. Will
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: runs into the woods. The creature chases him. Will reaches
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: a shelter in its backyard. He hides from the monster,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: but the monster finds Will. The next morning, Will disappeared.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: On today's spotlight, we look at the television program Stranger Things.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: The streaming service Netflix began showing Stranger Things in the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: summer of twenty sixteen. Stranger Things is set in a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: fictional small town called Hawkins in the state of Indiana
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: in the United States. It was the nineteen eighties. The
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: television show offers a blend of science fiction, horror, mystery,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and drama. It's a story about friends growing up together.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Stranger Things is a show about unusual incidents happening around Hawkins.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: It follows Mike and his friends and several other teenagers
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: and adults. They uncover supernatural mysteries and government secrets. After
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Will disappears, they meet a girl named Eleven with strange powers.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: She can kill people using her thoughts. She also can
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: open gates to the land of upside Down. The upside
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Down is another dimension the gates let people and monsters
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: travel between Hawkins and the upside Down. Eleven and her
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: new friends fight the monsters called Demigorgans and dema dogs.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Vecna and the mind Flare are the masters of these monsters.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: They want the upside Down dimension to control Hawkins.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Mike and his friends almost did not get the chance
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: to stop Vekna. Stranger Things was created by two brothers
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: named Matt and Ross Duffer. Their idea for the show
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: was rejected by fifteen Hollywood studios. The studios did not
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: believe the show could work. One told the Duffer brothers.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: You either must make it into a show for kids,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: or make it about this Hopper character investigating supernatural reports
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: around town.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Hopper is the chief of police in Hawkins. He is
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: one of the adults who helps Mike and his friends
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: search for will and fight the monsters. The Duffer brothers
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: wanted Stranger Things to be a show about kids that
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: appealed to everyone. They wanted to write the show so
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: that adults could also enjoy it, even though the show
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: focused on kids. The brothers also wanted to choose young
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: actors who were not famous. They thought people would like
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: young actors.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Netflix believed in the Duffer brother's idea. They agreed that
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: people would fall in love with the young characters. Fans
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: could watch the kids grow up on the show. The
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: characters would become close friends, even loved ones. For the audience.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Netflix understood that a television show has much more time
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: than a film. A film usually only lasts two hours,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: but a television show can spread over several seasons. The
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: television season is a series of episodes broadcast in a
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: one year period. Stranger Things ended up becoming successful. It
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: had time to develop the main characters over five seasons.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: This let fans get to know the character. It did
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: not matter that the actors were not famous when Stranger
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Things started, they were by the end of the show.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: One of the biggest reasons Stranger Things became popular with
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: both kids and adults is the friendship between the show's characters.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: They were not just involved in battles together. The characters
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: were close friends, defending each other. They supported and encouraged
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: one another. The friends were largely alone in their fight
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: against the monsters. They also had to battle the United
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: States government that wanted to catch Eleven and control her
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: special powers. But Eleven and her friends had each other.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Adult fans could relate to this because they remembered their
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: own childhoods. Their best friends were often the only people
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: to whom they could tell their deepest secrets. They loved
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: their parents, but their closest friends shared their same hopes
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and fears. They experienced the same daily problems. Having a
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: best friend in childhood is a strong and memorable relationship.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: A best friend is an attempt to find a person
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: outside the family whom someone can trust. When this new
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: friend returns the trust, the person is thankful to have
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  Speaker 1: chosen correctly the best friends of value and protect their
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: new friendship.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: In an episode of Stranger Things, Mike remembers meeting Will
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: on their first day of school.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: Mike says, do you remember the first day that we met.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: It was the first day of school. I knew nobody.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: I had no friends. I just felt so alone and
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: so scared. I saw you on the swings. You were
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: alone too, you were just swinging by yourself. I just
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: walked up to you and I asked if you wanted
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: to be my friend, and you said yes. It was
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: the best thing I have ever done.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Many adults also remember growing up during or around the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. When Stranger Things is set, they enjoy seeing
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the clothes, hairstyles, and cars from those years. The Duffer
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Brothers used music from the nineteen eighties. In fact, soveral
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: songs like Kate Bush's song Running Up That Hill and
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Tiffany's song I Think We Are Alone Now became popular
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: again over thirty years after these were first released.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: More than seeing cultural fashions from the past, fans of
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Stranger Things get to enjoy a world that no longer exists.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: It is a world without smartphones or the Internet. It
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: is how society used to look just before the digital
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: age changed daily life. Instead of watching videos on social media,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: kids used to spend their free time riding bikes, building
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: camps in the woods, and playing games with their friends.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: They read books, painted pictures, or climbed trees. They played
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: outside for hours. They gathered in homes like Mike's to
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: play dungeons and dragons. They use their imaginations to create
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: new fun every day.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Most of all, Stranger Things shows the importance of spending
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: time with others. Before the digital age, kids like Mike,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Will Lucas, and Dustin did not have the choice of
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: hiding in their bedrooms looking at their phones. They had
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: to spend time with each other. There was no FaceTime
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: or texting. The digital age has made life easier and
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: more entertaining, but there is no replacement for personal connections.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: As the world watched Stranger Things, kids and adults got
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: to look back into the past when developing friendships was
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: one of the most important things. It still is, but
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: kids today do not always make time for it. They
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: have other ways to have fun by themselves.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Stranger Things became Netflix's most successful show. It made over
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: a billion dollars for Netflix. The show made one point
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: four billion dollars in the United States economy through duction, jobs,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: and travel. Writers created The First Shadow, a Broadway play
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: based on Stranger Things. Several new television shows connected to
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Stranger Things have been released. Many books and video games
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: based on Stranger Things, stories and characters have been made.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: The final episode of Stranger Things has been released, but
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: its cultural importance continues. The actors are all grown up.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: They have new television shows, films, and music coming out.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They are no longer unknown children in a show only
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a few people believed in. They have become successful actors.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Their show will never be forgotten. But in the beginning,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: they were just twelve year old kids playing a game.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: They only had each other, but they took over the world.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Have you ever watched the show Stranger Things? Have you
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: seen the final season? Who is your favorite character? You
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: can leave a comment on our website at www dot
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: and x You can also get Spotlight Episodes delivered directly
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: to your Android or Apple device through our free official
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Spotlight English app.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: was mitchio Ozarki. The voice issue you heard were from
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: or artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight Episodes
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: are written, voiced, and produced by real people for real people,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: no matter where in the world they live. This episode
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: is called How Stranger Things took Over the World.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Spotlight Advanced program. Goodbye,