Friday, 9 May 2014
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Hotel babylon ethnicity
In the
extract from ‘Hotel Babylon’ techniques are used to portray different ethnic stereotypes.
It highlights the stark contrast between black and whites asserting them each
to a certain role.
The
begins with a mid-shot of a white man seemingly dressed up in suit attire, this
straight away begins the extract as assuring the whites place in society and
giving him authority and power. Then we see an Eyeline match as the man looks
over to the policemen in a mid-2 shot, this immediately connotes dominance and
law and the fact there is two of them suggests a unity. The policeman says “we
are here to stop anybody getting out” suggests they are going to assert their
power over the people of the hotel. However this scene uses natural light which
suggests a happy atmosphere. There is a use of shot reverse shot here which
allows the audience to see the worried look on the man’s face which suggests a
crime may have been carried out in the hotel. The camera then cuts to a hotel reception
desk, this is a much darker scene suggesting the hotel has concealed dark
secrets. The camera zooms in on the young white lady working behind the desk,
she is wearing all white which connotes purity and innocence implying she is
trying to come across as innocent to all those who see her such as the
immigration squad who she wants to make a guiltlessness impression on. At this
time there is non-diagetic music playing in the background which establishes
the hotel, this music is then heightened when the 3 white men enter from the
immigration service. These white men are highlighted in a negative light
because at first he is shown from a medium long shot marching in suggesting his
arrogance and carelessness to the guests of the hotel. The man centred in the
middle asserts his dominance by showing a unity with 2 other men and by wearing
a suit which shows his power and shows the formality of the group. By showing
up with other people he outnumbers the audience and creates a divide between
the outside and the inside creating a sense of feeling trapped.
The
camera follows this man which could put the audience themselves behind him
emphasizing his power further. This immigration squad are all dressed very
darkly, wearing blacks and greys which suggests a good organisation of the
squad but also how they are dealing with a serious situation. Also the police
are standing outside of the building creating a sense of illegal activities and
impending danger for the hotel. When the immigration squad reach the reception desk
we get an over the shoulder shot suggesting he has the power and it clearly
shows the woman’s nervous face and voice. Then we get a mid-shot of him where
his serious facial expression is emphasized allowing the audience to feel threatened
by this man he also gets out his identification which he does to reinforce his dominant
character role. This immediately sets of
a code from the woman to a young black man sitting on the couch she asks him to
collect some papers and he straight away leaves, this makes the music build up
to a climax creating a sense of worry. The camera then quickly cuts to the
black man rushing around the hotel to alert people that the immigration squad
have arrived at the hotel, this creates a sense of immediacy in the extract and
the fast pace of the editing suggests the immigrants must run and get out of
the hotel before they get caught this creates a juxtaposition from the earlier
calm scene in the hotel lobby. A young woman named Jackie is first shown in a
small compacted officer the room is bleakly lit by a small lamp which shows the
actions she is doing may be illegal. She runs to the kitchen in which the
immigrants are dressed in chef’s clothes and working class uniforms this shows
their low status. Jackie speaks in a foreign language to them so they
understand the urgency of the situation and it emphasizes these immigrants are
working illegally. The immigrants are both black and white suggesting different
nationalities but they seem to be mixed showing a sense of unity between the
workers. The immigrants then begin to run away in a panic suggesting if they
are caught bad things will happen, this creates pity from the audience because
they were doing working class jobs and serving everyone without causing harm.
The camera
is behind the immigrants for a period of time allowing the audience to be on
the side of them and feel the panic they do. The camera is behind some bars
looking in on the immigrants clumped together this could imply they are trapped
with no escape. It also creates an almost prison like scene making the immigrants
appear vunerable. There is then a close up of the woman’s hand locking the door
behind them with all the immigrants compacted in a small room; hidden away. This
represents the negative way in which we treat immigrants in that we push them
to limits such as these making them fear everyone. In this scene we get several
close up shots of different immigrants whispering to each other and shaking,
this shows the utter panic they are in, from this we can infer that they are
asylum seekers seeking refuge from home, as by their facial expressions we can
see a lot of fear of being taken. The Non diagetic music begins again in the
background when Jackie counts the immigrants and she realises one is missing,
the previous relief is now gone and the suspense builds back up again this
music sounds like a clock ticking which could portray the hotel is going to get
caught out and they are running out of time, the speed of this increases to a
pulsing sound which reinforces the tension of this moment. Then we see a use of
cross cutting when the camera cuts to another scene happening at the same time
of a black immigrant hovering in a corridor with headphones on and seemingly
oblivious to his surroundings. It then cuts back to the small room where Jackie
attempts to reassure the immigrants by saying “he will be alright” however she isn’t
very convincing due to her facial expression suggesting he is in danger. A
woman faints in the room and one of the immigrants asserts his education over
the British woman by saying “I wasn’t always a cleaner” this is a challenge to
typical stereotypes of foreign people. It
then cuts back to the scene of the hovering immigrant and the music then builds
up louder and faster in pace as we see the Black man struggling to escape from
the white immigration officers. The immigrant then trips over and this allows
the immigrant officers to tower over him showing them as dominant and him as
helpless, also there is 3 of them and 1 of him showing him to be outnumbered.
There is
then a knock at the door of the small cramped room, the camera zooms into Jackie
who is in control of the situation and we see she is scared it may be the
immigration officers, this shows her sympathetic side towards the immigrants
and that she has come to care for them all. A white man from the hotel informs
her the black man hovering has been caught. The camera then cuts to the black
man struggling as they escort him out of the building, we see the people of the
hotel are confused and wondering what is going on. The music completely cuts
off here which shows the serious situation matter, the woman Jackie begs for
him to be set free saying his “brother and father were both killed” which shows
the audience the immigrant himself may face this future himself. The officer
then says “we got him, rules of the game” suggesting how satisfied he is with
the situation, he is the only one in the frame at this point showing how he has
won and consolidated his power further. This shows him as harsh and careless to
the audience who sympathise with the immigrant workers. The camera then shows Jackie
in the frame looking distraught by the events and upset that she couldn’t protect
him. The camera then cuts to a locker room where sad non diagetic music is
playing in the background as she removes his belongings and it seems like one
of their family members have been taken away showing the unity between them
all.
On balance
through the majority of this scene ethnicity seems to be challenged in the fact
they characters appear to be united as a team. However there is a direct
contrast between the white immigration officers who are viewed negatively by
the audience and the immigrants who are scared by the actions they may take. Overall,
this extract displays challenges and support for the stereotypes of different ethnicities
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