Hotel Babylon

Analysis based on the representational issue of Ethnicity

 

In the 'Hotel Babylon' short clip is hugely based on ethnicity due to the obvious factor of the story line being based on immigrants, who are mainly within a black ethnic background who work in the hotel, juxtaposing with immigration officers who are generally of a white background.

 

To start, the audience can clearly see that the immigration officers are coming toward the hotel reception. The officers are all mainly white and are extremely well dressed, which clearly conveys their level of authority. During this point, the music is at a high intensity and the footstep sounds added help to add anxiety and panic to question to the audience who is approaching. The ticking sound could be showing they the time is decreasing for the immigrants and showing that they need to hide, firer conveying the power the officers have over everyone. Camera angles here include a lot of close ups and zooming into close ups, this again, shows the authority and perceived importance of the officers. In terms of editing, there are multiple shots used, including a motivational shot used to build tension and create atmosphere. Furthermore, at this stage the mise en scene illustrates a busy scene with many people involved, this also creates an atmosphere of panic and emphasises the impotence that the immigrants must get away.

 

Within the next couple of scenes, some of the people within the hotel are being earned that the immigration officers are within the hotel and must urgently pass the message back to the immigrants so they can quickly hide. Next, we see the immigrants all being frantically rushed into a small room to hide, the mise en scene here is very plain and this could be used to show that they are seen to be less important by the officers being contained like 'animals'. Here, a sense of calm falls upon the room for a split second which conveys tension until the lady in charge notices that one man is missing, the atmosphere then returns to panic and despair in hope that their friend is safe. The camera then slowly pans up the missing friend and the slow paced shots show that he is in his own world and is completely oblivious to what is going on. The camera then skips back to the immigrants in the room. The music is slower at this point and this emphasizes the binary opposite of the British officers and the foreign immigrants as the music is always much faster when the scene is focused on the officers.

 

Next, we see a shot of the missing immigrant worker in a lift with the officers standing behind, he is still completely oblivious to what is going on at this point. The officer them walks out moot a res carpet which highlights his perceived importance. The shots are much quicker as the officer walks after they have caught the immigrant to show his power over him. As the worker falls over his Hoover, the shot focuses in this to make clear that he has been caught, conveying a sight of weakness. In terms of mise en scene, it is very basic in the hotel hallways which could link to the kind of lives the immigrants are living. Also, the colour red appears again on the man’s boiler suit, as it has done subtly throughout the extract, and this infers danger which links well to what is happening

 

In the next scene, we see the man who was caught being taken away by the officers, as he is dragged through the main reception, we see other people look on and beg for them to let him go, whilst realizing that they can’t do anything about it. The reception is very busy at this point and has an exotic feel to it which shows the variety of races present in the hotel. This is also shown as we can clearly see a range of people from different cultural backgrounds, and a typical Italian waiter which shows diversity and equality, promoting the fact that the hotel welcomes all races.

The following few scenes show the arrested man’s friends and colleagues in sorrow and emptying his locker, the camera shot briefly shows us a poster of his national football team which says to the audience that he is proud of his background.  The music at this point is very slow and sad, to perhaps show that the colleagues of the arrested man are reflecting on the recent events and feeling deep sadness for their friend but also a sense of relief that they are safe themselves.

In the final scenes of the extract, we see the camera panning round the canteen to show and emphasize on the fact that the hotel is home to a wide range of nationalities. However, everyone is sitting at separate tables with other people from their respective nationalities; this follows the stereotype that ethnic groups stick together.  The music at this point reflects the overall mood running through the hotel. There is loud conversation however at some of the tables and then it goes much quieter when the camera gets to the table with the man and woman and this represents their ethnicity and the fact that they are praying. The camera work used here concentrates on the eye contact that the two workers are giving each other to perhaps show their relationship or that they are sharing the same feelings about the day’s events.

 

Overall, ethnicity is presented in many ways throughout the extract; sometimes more obviously than others, and it is made clear that the hotel is full of a very wide range of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.