Hotel Babylon - Improved

How is ethnicity represented in the clip from Hotel Babylon?

Ethnicity is represented in a number of different ways in Hotel Babylon one of which being from the start when the immigration officers came looking for immigrants working in the hotel. Another one would be that a black person is a doctor, currently working as a cleaner in the hotel, this is stereotypical thing to assume because of his skin colour. This is why she were surprised when she saw him treat her the diabetic women who fainted.

The director uses different types of editing to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. Continuity editing was used when the alert went out that immigration was here and everyone rushed knowing where they should be. Fast paced editing also links in with this because when they all went in the room to hide a head count was conducted and one person was missing which is Ibrahim so everyone was worried and wanted to know where he is so the camera showed all their facial expressions which adds effect on the audience so they seem like they are part of what is currently going on. Stereotypicaly if the immigration officers found out that he was missing Alvarado’s Racial Stereotypes theory would have considered him as dangerous as ethnic groups can be displayed through their own behaviour according to his theory. This also makes the audience feel pity because he was vulnerable to this since he entered the country and just because he had his headphones in he was taken as he wasn’t aware of what was going on. This makes the audience feel as if they should help them and creates an atmosphere around one subject. A shot reverse shot was also used to switch between each one of the actors. It was mainly used in the same scene from when they were all in the room hiding. A zoom was also used when they knocked on the door to let her know that they took Ibrahim. This adds tension on the audience and makes them more engaged within what is currently happening.

The director uses camera work to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. A hand-hand camera is used through the main part of the scene when they got alerted that immigration was here and she is running around the hotel gathering people together so the cinematographer just holds the camera and runs around behind her. This also links with a steady cam because at the same time it achieves a smooth shot even through the camera man is running around behind her while she gathers everything together. The focus of the camera mainly focuses on the representation of ethnicity, the shots and angles all link to one thing which is making the audience feel like they are with them and experiencing the same thing. It reinforces the role of representation thought-out the scene because it always links back to the topic of ethnicity and how it's represented. We see that the character who was taken could be related to Archetype as he can be classed as the type of character that can easily be recognised because of how vulnerable he was towards the immigration officers.

The director uses mise-en-scene to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. The hotel in general had white people showcased especially on the front desk and there was only one black person who was employed in a formal job. All the immigrants were wearing informal clothing and working in the kitchen showing that they are not worthy enough to work anywhere else even though they all had high profile skills but couldn't apply them because they are immigrants and need to hide. An example of this would be when the girl who is diabetic collapsed and one of the kitchen workers was a doctor, and he knew exactly what to do in that particular situation. When he asked if he knew what he was doing he said "I wasn't always a cleaner you know" which proves to the audience that black people have heavily been stereotyped and that he was a doctor before he migrated. It is shown that the police have more status than the immigrant workers. Status is also differentiated by the type of clothing, the workers wear rough clothing even so some of them have high class qualifications and the other hotel workers are wearing suits. It also shows a clear sigh of Antagonists and Protagonist. The law officials would be called as the antagonists and the immigrants are the protagonist. Using the theories, we can see that Hotel Babylon could be used in many different ways to establishes and signifies the role of stereotypes in TV Drama. Because of the viewer’s assumption theories have been made to evaluate the role of stereotypes. The Asian women who would be classed the protagonist as she plays a part in helping the immigrants. We see she works at the Hotel and is responsible for gathering all the immigrants together when people like the immigration officers come in is showcased a smart, this is because stereotypically Asian people are known to be smart and intelligent. This may make the audience feel less worried about what is going to happen to the immigrants because they know that an Asian woman is the one looking after them. This uses Perkin’s theory on stereotypes and how they are not always negative. Another example of one point that he made is that the majority groups or the less powerful are not always the ones targeted for stereotypes. An example of this would be how white people in the clip are stereotypically considered to be powerful even though they are not the minority group. They just have more power as they are the immigration officers and they are the immigrants so no matter what colour or ethnicity they are they would still have more power over them showing that they are less powerful.

Another assumption which Perkins made regarding the stereotypes goes well with Hotel Babylon, this was on how they can be held about one’s own group. An example of this would be for the white women who is behind the desk. She is seen to have blonde hair which stereotypically presents her to being “dumb” and not as smart/intelligent as people with different coloured hair.

The director uses sound to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. Diegetic sound on screen was used for example the running across the hotel you could hear the footprints of Jackie when she was running towards the kitchen. You could also hear the doors closing and opening quick as the tension builds up. At the same time there was also non-diegetic sound because thought the whole scene there was tension building music to engage the audience even more. Without the music it would still engage the audience but with it there’s more action to be seen on another perspective. Synchronous sound also links with Diegetic sound because it the sound that is expected with what is viewed and the diegetic sound is what is expected so they link together. The sound bridge also works well with the scene because the background music continues playing throughout the whole clip.