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