Thursday 13 March 2014

Hotel Babylon- Ethnicity

In the clip Hotel Babylon it shows a range of different stereotypes for ethnicity, it shows pitied, dangerous, conflict, exotic and unified. The entire clip is based on immigration trying to find illegal immigrants.

When the clip begins you see the police walk in with immigration the lady at the front desk seems to look concerned, the clip then shows a close up of the immigration officer and it shows a close up of his face to show danger. The woman at the front desk turns to a man sitting on the chair and asks if he has "Taken the purple acquisition forms down to house keeping like I asked?" The character who is known as Ben looks very concerned, what the lady at the front desk has said is clearly a code for Ben to go and hide all of the immigrants. Ben runs to Jackie and informs her that the immigration is there, Jackie runs to the kitchen and begins to shout in a different language this is a form of exotic as it shows that she is open to other cultures and that she is very cultural herself as she has to work with immigrants who are from all different places in the world.

The camera shots move quick to show that the immigrants and Jackie are in trouble and that they need to rush so it links into the camera movement. When all of the immigrants are together in the house keeping room it shows that they are unified as there is many different cultures and they are all together and in the same situation. One of the workers collapses during this part of the clip and we feel pity for her as she could be in terrible danger and the close up of the woman panicking and rubbing her chest causes the audience to feel tense and worried.

The missing cleaner makes the audience feel pitty for him when he is captured by the immigration, there is a close up of the cleaner trying to run and a close up of his face this is to show he is scared and that he feels unsafe. The costumes that all the cleaners wear makes us feel some pitty as it shows that they are in a low down job whereas in the past they could of been in a higher class job, one of the cleaners knows how to take care of the woman who collapses and he says "I wasn't always a cleaner you know" this makes the audience think and feel sorry for the character as he was once a doctor but now he has no choice other than to be a cleaner to earn some money. The lighting in the scene is dark, light and also has shadows, the darkness in the small house keeping room crates sympathy for the immigrants as they are caged much like an animal would be, this reinforces the stereotype of pitied as they are being made to stay out of government "light." The location is a small house keeping closet in a hotel where all staff are together which creates the idea of being unified, this also reinforces the stereotype of unified. There is a wide range of casting such as wide ranges of ethnicity, it also shows that some of the characters are in a conflict with the white immigration officers. 

Cleaners need to have props such as things like a Hoover, this is so that it fits into their roll, also having the photos of the immigrants past makes the audience feel sympathy, all of this ties into the stereotype of pitied. The costumes show an awful lot in clips, the white woman is in a white suit which shows that she is pure and that she is also innocent, also the immigration officers are in suits which shows that they have power over other people in the hotel, by the immigration officers wearing suits it shows that they're dangerous as it shows that they are serious and once again shows that they have a lot of power which can be seen as dangerous. There are sharp edits between the characters which shows conflict between the two characters and the sharp editing gives off an impression that the immigration officer is threatening. There is a juxtaposition of the cleaner who looks innocent and then he is taken away by the officers, this shows that he may be accused wrongly and that he is intact innocent this then challenges the stereotype that he is dangerous and reinforces the stereotype of pity. The camera is edited in a way so that it sides with the immigrants this also shows the stereotype pitied because the camera is edited to show the cleaners to be sympathised with. There is editing cuts between the action and the cloakroom to show conflict and it also shows conflict as the action continues. It is fast paced when the immigrants are trying to hide to show the idea that they are in danger, which reinforces the stereotype of dangerous. 

There is diegetic sound which is the sound of the Hoover as it shows that the cleaner is there to work and to be helpful, this causes the audience to feel pity for him because he is not a criminal but he is made out to be one, it also reinforces the stereotype of discriminating against different ethnicities. Majority of the dialogue came from the woman at the front desk and Jackie, this shows their importance and their power. There is fast paced music which shows the danger and the conflict in the clip. The stereotype of white people is that they are dangerous to other ethnicities and are made to hide and run away from white people, this shows that the white immigration officers are dangerous and to also reinforces the stereotype of danger. There is some foley in this clip such as when the cleaner is using the Hoover and the Hoover shows that he is a manual labourer, we pity him because he isn't doing anything wrong and yet he is taken away when all he wants to do is to work. There is high angles in the clip which relates to the immigrants being portrayed as victims, there is some low angles on the immigration officers as it shows their power this shows conflict. There is a long shot to show that the immigrants are isolated. There is a close up to show fear in the woman's face which shows pity and conflict. There is a composition to show that they are together again and that they are all unified. Also at the end of the clip Jackie is packing her stuff away, it shows a close up on her which causes us to feel a lot of pity for her as all she wanted to do was to keep her workers safe. 


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