Wave Makers
Promotional poster
Traditional Chinese人選之人—造浪者
Simplified Chinese人选之人—造浪者
Hanyu PinyinRén Xuǎn Zhī Rén Zào Làng Zhě
Hokkien POJ Jîn-soán ê Lâng: Chō-lōng-chiá
GenreDrama
Political drama
Written byChien Li-ying
Yan Shi-ji
Directed byLin Chun-yang
StarringHsieh Ying-xuan
Jag Huang
Gingle Wang
Leon Dai
Buffy Chen
Ending theme"得意的一天 A no is a no" by Leo Wang & Chen Hsien-ching
Country of originTaiwan
Original languagesMandarin
Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hakka
English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Production locationTaiwan
Production companiesDaMou Entertainment
Public Television Service
Original release
NetworkNetflix
Release28 April 2023 (2023-04-28) (Netflix)
28 October 2023 (2023-10-28) (PTS)

Wave Makers (Chinese: 人選之人—造浪者) is a 2023 Taiwanese political drama television series written by Chien Li-ying and Yan Shi-ji and directed by Lin Chun-yang. The series stars Hsieh Ying-xuan, Jag Huang, Gingle Wang, Leon Dai, and Buffy Chen. The drama follows the lives of the political campaign staff of a fictional Taiwanese political party during the runup to a presidential election. Domestic Taiwanese political issues such as workplace sexual harassment, death penalty, immigration, same-sex marriage, and environmental issues are explored.

Produced by DaMou Entertainment and Public Television Service, Wave Makers premiered worldwide on Netflix on April 28, 2023.[1][2]

Plot

Wen-fang Weng is the assistant director of the Justice Party public relations campaign of presidential candidate Yueh-chen Lin, who seeks to oust the incumbent president. The daughter of an influential legislator in the same party, Weng lost her re-election for councilor of her district when she defended herself against a homophobic supporter of her father who verbally attacked her when he saw her kissing her wife, and afterwards refused to apologize to him. Chia-ching Chen, whose workaholism on the campaign has jeopardized his marriage, supervises the team of campaign staff working to elect Yueh-chen.

The current president seeking re-election, Ling-hsien Sun, announces that her running mate will be Chang-tse Chao, but rumors begin to surface of Chao's trysts with a current staffer. One of his previous trysts was with his former student and assistant, Ya-ching Chang, who now works for the Justice Party on Yueh-chen's campaign. Chang tries to keep her past affair with Chao a secret, while also trying to convince him to return the nude photos her took of her when they were together. Chang becomes embroiled in a workplace sexual harassment case at the Justice Party, and with the support of Weng and Chen tries to navigate the unfolding case as male supervisors want to keep the incident under wraps.

Cast

Main

Recurring

  • Tammy Darshana Lai as Yueh-chen Lin
  • Aviis Zhong as Chu Li-ya
  • Yi-Ling Liao as Yang Ya-ting

Reception

James Marsh of the South China Morning Post observed that Wave Makers's cast and story is predominantly female, including both presidential candidates. Regarding the political issues touched on the story, Marsh writes that "despite the show's tendency to oversimplify hot-button political issues and then amplify them to a ridiculous degree in the name of drama, Wave Makers succeeds in creating an engaging landscape populated by characters that we genuinely care about."[3]

Chieh-Ting Yeh of the University of Nottingham Taiwan Studies Institute notes the absence of relations with Mainland China as an issue during the political campaign depicted in the show, despite being one of the most important topics in Taiwanese politics today. "In 'Wave Makers', policy towards a foreign country is not an existential issue and does not overshadow all the other important issues from the public square. Rival politicians can debate immigration and environmental policies, fend off student protesters, and even dig up each other's scandals without worrying about what anyone in Beijing or Washington says. Having an election where no matter who wins, a woman with gravitas will become president is not bad," Yeh writes.[4]

Sarah Musnicky from But Why Tho? wrote that while Wave Makers touches on several important political issues, it doesn't spend enough time to dive deeply into them. " Ironically, this reflects political debate topics in a way, with how we never truly get to the crux of the issues. We touch upon them and then move onto the next topic voters are interested in." Instead, Musnicky writes, "the real heart and soul of the series is in its characters."[5]

Wave Makers received 14 Golden Bell Award nominations.[6]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2023 Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards Best OTT Original Wave Makers Nominated [7]
Best Supporting Actress Buffy Chen Nominated
Rising Star of the Year Won [8]

Impact

Wave Makers brought increased attention to sexual harassment in Taiwanese society and set of a round of grappling with the issue.[9][10] Allegations have been made against figures in the political, economic, and artistic spheres.[11] Taiwan has long had a culture of silence and shame surrounding sexual assault.[12] Exiled Chinese human rights activist Teng Biao apologized after allegations against him were made public.[13]

After the series was aired, a former party staffer for Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) posted on social media about how she experienced sexual harassments at the workplace but her supervisor tried to dissuade her from pursuing the case. The party staffer referenced Wave Makers in her social media post.[14][11] Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen apologized twice for the allegations made against members of her party, the DPP, and promised that changes would be made both in party policy and culture.[15]

Although Wave Makers is censored on the Chinese review aggregator Douban, the show was the focus of online discussion in mainland China regarding Taiwanese politics and its differences from China.[16]

References

  1. ↑ ""Wave Makers" – Official Trailer – Netflix". Pressparty. April 11, 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Jew, Linda (19 April 2023). "Wave Makers: Netflix Sets Premiere Date for Taiwanese Political Drama Series". The Global TV Place. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Marsh, James (26 April 2023). "Netflix drama review: Wave Makers – Taiwanese election drama by The World Between Us director is an engaging watch that brings up important political issues". South China Morning Post.
  4. ↑ Yeh, Chieh-Ting (10 May 2023). "Wave Makers on Netflix: A Vision of Taiwanese Politics Not 'Amid Tensions'". Taiwan Insight. University of Nottingham.
  5. ↑ Musnicky, Sarah (May 6, 2023). "Review: 'Wave Makers' Provides Hope Amidst Political Chaos". But Why Tho?.
  6. ↑ "Crime, political TV dramas lead Golden Bell Award nominations". Overseas Community Affairs Council. September 16, 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Yoon, Sun-young (September 12, 2023). "부산영화제, 아시아콘텐츠·글로벌OTT 어워즈 후보작 발표" [Busan International Film Festival announces nominations for Asian Content and Global OTT Awards]. Cheonji Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  8. ↑ Lihui, Liao (October 8, 2023). "為台灣爭光！金鐘戲王薛仕凌釜山奪獎 柯震東驚喜頒獎" [Taiwan's honor! Xue Shi-Ling wins the award in Busan, and Ke Zhen-Dong presented the surprise award.]. Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  9. ↑ Cheng, Joyce; Handley, Erin (23 June 2023). "How Netflix political drama Wave Makers sparked Taiwan's MeToo movement". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  10. ↑ Hale, Erin (22 June 2023). "Netflix show unleashes wave of MeToo allegations in Taiwan". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  11. 1 2 Chang Chien, Amy (June 25, 2023). "Taiwan Faces a #MeToo Wave, Set Off by a Netflix Hit". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  12. ↑ Yang, William (June 13, 2023). "#MeToo in Taiwan exposes a hidden culture of harassment". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Taiwan MeToo: Exiled human rights activist Teng Biao apologises". BBC News. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  14. ↑ Thomson, Jono; Ya-chun, Chang (2 June 2023). "Sexual harassment scandal grips DPP as 2nd victim comes forward". Taiwan News.
  15. ↑ Hawkins, Amy (8 June 2023). "Taiwan's ruling party rocked by sexual harassment claims". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "專題｜讓大陸觀眾羨慕： 台劇的深度！《人選之人》正港台灣之光引發大陸網友留言" [Feature｜Making mainland audiences envious: The depth of Taiwanese dramas! "The Candidate" is the light of Hong Kong and Taiwan, triggering comments from mainland netizens!]. Yahoo! News (in Chinese). May 6, 2023.
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