GBA Race: Gold Leaf is the uplifting warmth among Taiwan dramas | Opinion
Nominated for 16 awards, Gold Leaf, the prospective ultimate winner of the 57th GBA, tells the story of the tea industry in the 1950s Hsinchu.
Given that Taiwanese dramas now enjoy relatively abundant production resources, what are the advantages of the five nominees competing for Best Television Series at this year’s 57th Golden Bell Awards?
The storyline follows a family tea company’s survival challenges in the face of KMT’s (Kuomingtang) political strategies and treacherous international relations. Through the brilliant acting of Cindy Lien (連俞涵), James Wen (温昇豪), Kuo Tzu-Chien (郭子乾), Hsueh Shih-Ling (薛仕凌), Hsu An-Chi (許安植) and others, a comprehensive view of Taiwan’s political-economic reality and even the conditions of ordinary people of the time are revealed. However, when it comes to the part that involves political and commercial conflicts, Gold Leaf is far too elegant. Only firm resilience and resigned compromises are presented, echoing the gentle image of the heroine Chang Yi-Hsin (played by Cindy Lien).
What makes Gold Leaf special is that the general tone of the whole series echoes the protagonists’ encounter:
they are ahead of the time but cannot beat the current; they are persistent to the ideal, but also maintain kind-hearted.
The protagonists Chang Yi-Hsin and Liu Kun-Kai (played by James Wen) invite the audience to relate to their gentle beliefs, where a soft judgement is displayed. This quiet confrontation generalizes the typical tough and resilient image of the upper class in Taiwan. That image can arouse the deepest yearning from the heart for the bygone age when you wake up from the dream created by the series. Although portrayed as an elegy of the times, Gold Leaf still provides the uplifting warmth that makes literary works such a unique genre.
The excellence of Gold Leaf lies in its delicate shots throughout the whole series in all aspects. As for its reserved emotional expression, so different from the melodramatic approach of contemporary Korean drama, creates a sense of distance through internalizing the feelings of most characters. Revealing one’s affection through a piece of letter paper with the name of the sweetheart written on it is very much a literary expression. The imagery has created tension that can be achieved but not overdone by the dramatic genre. The elegant treatment of Gold Leaf gives the show the confidence to compete for Best Television Series, but it somehow lacks certain boldness. It also heavily relies on the committee’s taste, which hopefully would place aesthetics as top priority to achieve success.
Read the other analyses for the nominated Best Television Series of the 57th Golden Bell Awards.
The Making of an Ordinary Woman 2: A cure for the maladies of contemporary civilization
Gold Leaf: the uplifting warmth among Taiwan dramas
Danger Zone: the overlord that breaks the convention in every way
Seqalu: Formosa 1867: the most unstoppable period drama
Light the Night: praised as the Taiwanese Squid Game
Will, one day, Taiwanese drama march on to the Emmys?
These are my analysis of the nominees of the 57th Golden Bell Awards for Best Television Series. Looking at the major TV and movie awards around the world, we would find that the logic of the awards varies. No matter how much big data and professional analysis are conducted, it is impossible to precisely predict the considerations of the committee composed of different professional fields. The saying of “being shortlisted equals gaining recognition” is not created to comfort the nominees, but to reflect the committee’s dilemma when decisions are hard to make.
Would the Golden Bell Awards signify the Taiwanese Emmy Awards? Or, as we’re always asking, “will, one day, Taiwanese drama march on to the Emmys and win big like ‘Squid Game’”? The answer is a resounding yes. It took 20 years of hard work for Korean dramas to fully blossom. For now, it only took two or three years for Taiwanese drama to embrace its revival.
If we keep up this momentum with resilience, a wider global audience will surely appreciate and embrace the beauty of Taiwanese dramas in five or ten years.
Original text from Dramago.
Written by Cheercut
Edits by Chen Shan-Shan
Copyedits by Yang Lee
Translation by Maggie Sur-Han Chang
Editorial review by Whitney Hung
