Hotel Babylon media essay re-write

1. Hotel Babylon Ethnicity Representation re-write
Hotel Babylon is a British TV Drama based around a hotel environment. This clip is
about the representational issue of ethnicity and the audience are encouraged to
believe that the clip opposes the ethnic stereotypes through its use of the micro
features: sound, editing, camera and mise-en-scene.
The first thing the audience see’s in the clip is a close up of one of the workers in the
hotel in what seems to be a basement. The first use of diegetic sound is that of an
elevator opening in the background. The director then introduces the audience to a
sense of danger and trouble as the police arrive into the scene shown in a mid-shot of
them standing in front of the door. As soon as the police arrive, there is an evident
non-diegetic percussive beat in the background to engage the audience in feeling
tension and acting as a metaphor of an un-steady heartbeat. The police officers
reinforce the idea of danger and also instant authority as they explain that they are
there to ‘stop anyone getting out’. This not only gives the police authority and
dominance over the people within the hotel, but also is the first symbol of the prison
motif as they have the hotel on lock down in order to keep the people, the audience
presumes to be dangerous, inside.
The camera then cuts to the posh, sophisticated hotel lobby setting where the director
firsts introduces us to one of the female protagonists at the desk through an
exaggerated zoom to a close up, introduction to character shot. This automatically
brings the audience into the action and narrative of the sequence. There is a clear
representation of a posh and well regarded hotel partnered with the well dressed and
spoken white woman. The audience is shortly after introduced to the male protagonist
through the sequence shot, reverse shot. He has a fairly exaggerated opening as the
shot captures him walking through the vast expanse of the lobby to the front desk with
great confidence. However, it is also evident in his facial expression as well as body
language that he has no patience for foolishness and that he is very professional and
means business. In the reverse shots at the desk, he is originally made to look smaller
than the female protagonist when the camera is on him, however when it is on her, he
is made to look taller and therefore more domineering and authoritive. This is further
reinforced as in the depth of field shot, the audience can see the police guarding the
door in the background as well as the man’s two wingmen at each side of his
shoulders. He is wearing no tie or especially formal clothing which also emphasises
that he has the power to make the decisions to wear whatever he feels comfortable in.
The dialogue of the female protagonist asking Ben to go and send the ‘acquisition
forms’ downstairs acts as a code to hide the immigrants before the male immigrant
officer finds them. He recognises this and this is reflected in the reverse shot of his
unimpressed and smug facial expression. When the female addresses Ben, the
audience is aware of other ethnicities in the formal lobby setting. Ben specifically is
dressed in a smart suit and business attire and later the audience recognises that Ben is
that of a minority in comparison to the other ethnicities who only wear overalls or
cleaning attire.
The scene then cuts to a steady cam shot of Ben running to inform his colleagues of
the trouble they may face. This use of shot is partnered with the same fast, percussive
non-diegetic beat that the audience was introduced to in regard to the feel of danger at
the beginning of the sequence. This shot then cuts to Jackie’s cramped and confined

2. office space in the basement which juxtaposes with the wide, open, regal feel of the
lobby. This highlights the ethnic divide as Jackie, who is of a Chinese ethnicity, is
confined in a cramped and dark office, emphasised by the low key lighting. This
indexical signifier of imprisonment, combined with the emphasised diegetic sound of
keys jangling suggests that she and the immigrants are trapped in their stereotypes.
This then cuts to the steady cam long shot of Jackie warning the immigrants in the
kitchen and we hear her diegetic dialogue of two languages (Italian and Russian). This
highlights Jackie as an extremely intelligent and integral character as, despite her low
rank in the hotels roles, she provides support and information for all of the ethnic
minorities within the lower roles in the hotel and in theory saves their lives.
This then cuts to a deliberate long shot of the immigrants through a cage/gate like
prop. This acts as an indexical signifier for prison in order to construct the idea of the
imprisonment metaphor and symbolism. It is a visual motif throughout the clip and
reflects the idea of, despite the audience empathising with the immigrants, they are
still criminals and the hotel is committing a serious offence in harbouring them.
Therefore the gate acts as a sign of what is likely to happen to the hotel staff and the
immigrants in the future. This then fast cuts to a close up of Jackie putting the key
into the lock and the directors have deliberately amped up the sound of the keys
jangling to emphasise danger and this shot is repeated again when all the immigrants
are in the staff cupboard to reinforce the danger.
Following this, the director then chose to shoot a series of close ups of the different
ethnicities in a confined space. This highlights how now they are a cohesive unit
when it comes down to a desperate and dangerous situation such as this. There is a
lack of non-diegetic background music when Jackie is counting to create tension in
the situation. The camera is then made to do an exaggerated zoom into Jackie’s
shocked face as she realises Ibrahim is missing. The non-diegetic percussive beat also
picks up again at this point to further emphasise tension which is backed up by
Jackie’s diegetic dialogue of explaining they’ll ‘take you all’.
The director then cross cuts this scene to that of Ibrahim in a depth of field shot in
high key lighting. His surroundings are bright and vibrant which juxtaposes with the
dark future he is certain to have after being caught. This is to highlight that Ibrahim is
vulnerable to danger unlike the immigrants that are all in the confinements of the
cleaning cupboard. Moreover, the director does not dwell too long on this shot as the
majority of the exciting action is happening in the cupboard. The next scene is where
one of the cleaners has a hypoglycaemic attack due to her being diabetic. One of the
immigrants then shocks the audience by opposing the stereotype of their trades being
in cleaning or construction as he is the only one who knows how to deal with the
situation, not Jackie who initially seems the smartest out of them all. This
juxtaposition of the stereotype is further emphasised by a close up of Jackie’s
confused face as Adam carries out the necessary procedures and then explains through
diegetic dialogue that ‘I wasn’t always a cleaner’. This shows Adam in a different
light as he now seems more educated and complex which challenges the traditional
stereotype of Eastern ethnicities having little education and opportunity to progress in
the hierarchy of the work place.
Furthermore, this scene then cross cuts to that of Ibrahim in the hallway setting still
obliviously hoovering with his headphones on. This is in another depth of field shot

3. and the audience see’s the immigration officers walk through the lift in the
background to the non-diegetic percussive beat emphasising tension and danger for
the following scenes. The camera director then does a hyper zoom into a close up of
Ibrahim’s shocked and scared expression before attempting to run away from the
officers in a long shot.
Again, this cross cuts back to the cupboard scene where all of the immigrants seem to
be calming down slightly. There is then an exaggerated, diegetic, sudden knock at the
door designed to highlight tension in the situation for the audience. The audience are
now placed in a position of concern for the immigrants in the cupboard as they can
sense danger. Jackie then walks over to the door and unlocks it with the lock and key
indexical signifier repeated once again. She is then told that Ibrahim has been caught
and this further amplifies the audiences concern for the immigrants of what is going to
happen.
This then cross cuts to the scene in the lobby where Ibrahim is getting taken away by
the officers and there are shocked posh ethnic minority characters. There is a
juxtaposition between Ibrahim’s boiler suit outfit and the regal costume of the posh
gests within the hotel to emphasise the ethnic divide. In the end we see the white
secretary’s true colours as she disregards Jackie as if to suggest she does not want the
immigrants crowding her high class lobby as they do not belong there. She then
further highlights this disregard by snapping her fingers at Gino to get the guests a
drink in a fairly brash manor.
The sequence finishes with a very sad, violin orchestral non-diegetic soundtrack as
Jackie is shown in a mid-shot cleaning out Ibrahim’s locker. The director deliberately
shows close ups of the pictures in his locker to emphasise happier times with his
family and how they will no longer be there, metaphorically represented through
Jackie clearing away all of his things. This shot then finishes with the repeated
indexical signifier of the lock and key to highlight that Ibrahim will be put into prison
or possibly worse. The scene is then cut to a slow track pan across the employees
canteen, going through a variety of ethnicities in their own groups, unlike the
community cohesive feel earlier within the cupboard setting in the sequence; they are
now together but separated. The camera is set to stop at the father (Adam the doctor)
and his daughter making a prayer before eating their meal. This portrays him as a very
traditional and respectable, patriarchal man as he is saying grace before a meal. He
then reinforces his authority and power when he tells his daughter to stop eating
before he has finished his prayer, merely by lifting his finger; this power and authority
would be unlikely if he was in this position with more influential people within the
hotels hierarchy.