Stranger Things (season one) takes place in 1983, a year that most of us were not born. Although it focuses almost solely on their insular community in Indiana there were lots of things going on in the world that could affect your characters. So I compiled a few historical things and general bits of information that took place in 1983 that you could use as background plot.
US PRESIDENT.
Ronald Reagan (George H. W. Bush Vice President)
OTHER WORLD LEADERS.
Margaret Thatcher (UK), Li Xiannian (People's Republic of China), François Mitterrand (France), Helmut Kohl (Germany)
NOTABLE EVENTS.
• The observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is officially signed into law, and first observed 3 years later.
• Vanessa Williams becomes the first African-American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (DARE) is launched in the US.
• McDonald's introduces the McNugget.
• The U.S. Embassy is bombed in Beirut in April, killing 63.
• The US Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on its maiden flight in April.
• Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to go to space in June.
• Hurricane Alicia hits Texas in August, killing 21.
POP CULTURE.
• Fraggle Rock (cr. Jim Henson) debuts on HBO in January.
• The final episode of M*A*S*H airs to 125 million viewers in February.
• Flashdance is released in April.
• Star Wars Episode VI (Return of the Jedi) is released in May.
• Cabbage Patch Kids sell almost 3 million dolls by December, the most successful doll launch in the history of the toy industry thus far.
The vast majority of these I found on the internet, feel free to comment your own fun facts/trivia pieces about 1983, and look out for a version for the second season of Stranger Things!
( iyanah! )
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MALACHAI. ( writing tips )
Fanfiction❝ If anyone asks where I am, I've left the country! ❞ WHERE THE ADMINS WILL GIVE YOU ADVICE ON HOW TO WRITE YOUR FICS!
