Hotel Babylon Mock Exam

In this clip, the struggles of ethnic stereotypes, who work for the hotel, are shown through different characters which is highlighted when they are juxtaposed against the white society that runs the hotel. The scene starts of with a Caucasian man coming into the scene from behind the wall in a room. This would be reinforcing the stereotypes of ethnicity as the Caucasian man has a high-paid job in society. The mise-en-scene shows the room to be full of cardboard boxes. The close-up shows the man to be cramped which could indicate that he is uncomfortable with where he is; this could suggest that he's up to no good. The shot pans to two policemen who say "We're just here to stop people coming in", the caucasian man in the suit nods his head, understanding that they are they to check up on any illegal immigrants working at Hotel Babylon. I noticed that both policemen are Caucasian which shows that the show is reinforcing the stereotype by giving powerful job roles to the Caucasian ethnicity. The next shot moves to an establishing shot of two women in suits at a reception desk, one is of a Caucasian ethnicity and one is of a South East Asian ethnicity . This shot shows the juxtaposition between the two characters, for example, the woman costumes show that the Caucasian woman wears a white suit with blond hair to show that she's pure and innocent. Whereas the South East Asian woman wears a red shirt with a black blazer which reinforces the stereotype of being dangerous, because red is recognised as an angry colour. As well as this she has black hair, which is in contrast to the blond hair that the other woman has. The shot also compares the two woman as the angel and the devil as their costumes suggest. The shot zooms into the Caucasian women quickly which then cuts to the police walking through the door. The two shots show that they are linked and create panic for whats about to come because it shows us that the men are about to confront the woman at the desk. There is a quick shot-reverse-shot between the two characters which shows that there will be conflict between the two characters. This challenges the stereotype of conflict because often conflict is between two contrasting ethnicities.

After this, a Black ethnic character, presumably a customer staying at the hotel, looks up from his newspaper to see the policemen coming into the hotel. This reinforces the stereotype of the Black ethnicity being worried about law controlling jobs such as policemen because of their history of being judged. The policemen lead a man dressed quite casually with a T-Shirt under his blazer, he introduces himself to the Caucasian woman at reception. The man asks to search the hotel and the woman agrees, but first she alerts her attention to another member of staff to do something for her. The member of staff is of a Black ethnicity, which is again reinforcing the stereotype of hierarchy between ethnic groups. The next shot cuts quickly to the member of staff running through different areas of the hotel. The pace is fast to show how much he's in a hurry. He then alerts the a different South East Asian woman who is sat at her desk, which is in a small room, cluttered with boxes on shelves. The lighting in the small room is dark and the only light comes from a lamp on her desk. By placing the character is a dark, cramped room shows that she is in a situation that's uncomfortable for her. A tracking shot shows her running through the busy underground of the hotel. The tracking shot shows the action in the scene. There is also steam from cooking pots that we see which adds to the ambience of the scene. The next shot shows the woman rushing presumably illegal immigrant workers into a store cupboard. The space is cramped which could be reinforcing the stereotype of being united as the workers are together in the small space. The camerawork is unsteady because the camera would've been held by hand to show frantic movements to match the frantic movements of the workers. The woman counts all the staff members and the panic in her eyes, which is shown through a close-up, tells us that a member of staff is missing. The scene cuts to the missing member of staff hoovering with his headphones on. His props tell us his role in the hotel is presumably a cleaner in which he is missing from the other workers in the cleaning room. Then there is a shot reverse shot showing the workers in the maid's cupboard. This links the two shots together and adds tension to the scene. To add to the drama, a maid faints due to the stress from the scene and presumably also due to tight spaces. The maid is seen from a high angle to show her as vulnerable. By the maid fainting, the space seems more crowded as the drama increases. Another worker feeds the fainted maid some jam in order to give her the sugar that she needs. The worker surprises the South East Asian women because the worker challenges the stereotype of being pitied because he states that he 'wasn't always a cleaner'.

Then the scene cuts to the missing cleaner hoovering. We see this out of focus and we see the immigration patrol, in focus. This shows us that the illegal immigrant workers always have to watch their back and it makes the scene even more tense because the missing worker doesn't see it coming. There is diagetic sound coming from the hoover to further add to his profession. The shot quickly cuts to show the workers expression when he sees the immigration control. The cut is quick to add to the shock that the worker is feeling. He tries to run but then gets captured and taken away by the immigration control. This links back to slavery as the worker is off a Black ethnicity and the immigration officers are of a Caucasian ethnicity. This reinforces the stereotype of conflict between ethnicities. However the kidnap is also ironic because the immigration officers are stopping the worker from working rather than forcing him to work. They drag the worker off and the camera moves to focus on the now unattended hoover which could represent the job that in now vacant. The next shot is a close-up of the maid who fainted, this brings us back to the workers hiding in the store cupboard. Different shots from low angles show the other workers surrounding the maid. Mostly close-ups to show the tension in the scene. This quickly cuts to a next shot which matches the quick change in expression from the South East Asian woman. The shot quickly zooms in on the group of workers to further intensify the drama in the scene, this shows us that they may know that something bad has happened. There is diagetic sound in this scene such as the footsteps and the rustles of the keys which make the scene more realistic. She is greeted by another worker who adds that they (the immigration police) have got someone. This then links to the next scene of the immigration police dragging the illegal immigrant worker into the hotel lobby and out the door. The lighting when the illegal immigrant worker is brought through the door is dark, so it is hard to see the worker. The the lighting gets brighter when they go further into the hotel lobby. This shows that as they move into the lobby with mostly Caucasian customers the lighting is shown stereotypically in comparison to the dark lighting that shows the illegal immigrant worker who is of Black ethnicity. The South East Asian woman argues with the immigration police then the Caucasian reception is left to manage the worried customers in the hotel lobby. This challenges the stereotype of ethnic groups being unified as the Caucasian woman is left on her own to resolve the problems in the hotel lobby. The scene then cuts to a panning shot of the South East Asian woman clearing out the Black worker's locker. The soundtrack is slow and sad to set the tone for the scene. This makes us feel sympathetic for the workers who have now one less colleague. They clear out his locker like they're clearing out their memory of him. The South East Asian woman takes off photos of the workers past of his locker door, which makes us further sympathise with him. This is because we are reminded of how he will get killed if he goes back home. She locks the locker and the scene cuts to workers eating in a canteen. The panning shots show the difference between dividing ethnic groups such as other workers are arguing at lunch whereas two Black ethnic workers are in silence praying for presumably their former colleague. This shows the contrast between the groups and how they each deal with grief. This makes us sympathise further with the ethnic minorities as the scene gives us an insight into how they are feeling about the loss. The Black male of the two Black ethnic workers stop the Black female from eating until he's finished his prayers. This shows that he is in control of the situation, however it also shows that he is not done with grieving. This challenges the stereotypes of ethnic groups as being dangerous as the black ethnic group is the quietest ethnic group in the canteen. He finishes his prayers and the pair finally eat, in silence. Throughout the clip, ethnicity is reinforced and challenged through the different characters who work at the Hotel Babylon and strength and weaknesses are shown through the camera.