Ethnicity in TV Dramas: Hotel Babylon

Hotel Babylon: Extract

In the TV drama series of Hotel Babylon there are many ethnicities presented to the audience at home. For example there are a wide range of ethnicities and languages in the specific episode and extract I have watched and the example would be English, Polish, African and Asian. There is a really clear contrast between the ethnic groups in this TV drama and in this essay o will point out the key features of how the Ethnic groups are treated and how they respond to this. I will also include a conclusion and an overall thought about the TV drama Hotel Babylon at the end of this essay.

At the start of the extract we see a posh well groomed Englishman wearing a suit and tie in a store room looking for something. The camera gives us mid shots and close up shots of this character to give us an insight of his facial expressions and what he might be looking for. There is slow paced music being played in the background suggesting that something is going to build up soon. Next two police man walk through the door both of the English with English accents showing that a policeman is seen to be an English job in the UK and no other ethnic group can have this job.

Editing then switches the scene over to another one quickly adding alertness to the audience. Also the music has picked up showing even more alertness. This scene is shown at the front of the Hotel with everyone there dressed posh wearing suits and blazers. Most people in this scene are English showing at the minute not a wide range of ethnic groups. At this stage in the extract we see our first African American man wearing a suit and tie but he also has an English accent showing he is still British overall. All the English ethnic people we have seen so far are all dressed and looking smart to me this gives the English ethnic group the upper hand and that they are seen to be more powerful and dominant.

The editing then switches the clip over to Jackie who is part of the Asian ethnic group and works in her own office at the back of the hotel but her office is in a store cupboard instead of a professional one this to me shows the clear divide between the ethnic groups of the English and other groups. The lighting shown upon the head policeman is very dark and shadowy giving the audience a feeling that the head policeman is a sly and cunning man. The head policeman asks the woman in white if they can look around because they are from the immigration service and she reply’s politely saying yes you may and offers them guides. This to me shows that the English ethnic group is portrayed as well mannered.

The editing of the clip suggests urgency now as clips start to speed up with many more little shots added between. Urgency is also added by the camera because the angels are constantly zooming in and out and swishing to show people rushing around. The music tempo has also picked up drawing in the attention of the audience even more. The next scene shows us behind the scenes in the Hotel in the cafeteria and where the ‘immigrants’ work, with Jackie running in shouting at them in a mix of languages obviously getting across the message that the immigration service is here. The urgency is even more intense and high now because there’s that many camera shots and angles going on you don’t know where to look giving the effect that your there watching them in real life and your one of them. The ethnicity part of this clip is that all of the people are from different countries and are illegal immigrants meaning they shouldn't be there and the fact Jackie speaks to them this way in s a loud voice whilst she is speaking we can hear other sound of food sizzling and pan clapping together drowning out what she is saying so the audience cant exactly hear her at this stage shows that the British born ethnic group have more power and control over the non-British ethnic groups.

Further on in the extract we come to a scene where all the immigrants are locked in a cupboard hiding from the immigration service. This shows that the non-British ethnic groups are less powered and scared on the common British person. The mise-en-scene of this clip is that you can hear gasps of breath and whispering showing that they are trying to be as quite as possible so the immigration service does not find them and take them. One of the immigrants falls Ill and faints in the store room showing that some of them are weak and are treated badly, but one of the immigrants called Adam says he used to be a doctor and helps the ill woman, this to me supports the stereotypical thoughts of what people think immigrants can do. By this I mean that you would expect someone like Adam to be a cleaner like he is now and not a Doctor. There is no music in this part of the extract because then it helps the audience listen to the immigrants and how they are scared in this store room.

Ebrahim is a cleaner who works at Hotel Babylon and is not collected by Jackie to be taken to hide with the other immigrants so he is the only one left. As he is cleaning we see some parallel editing between the immigrants in the store room and Ebrahim who is cleaning. The immigration service comes through the elevator to find Ebrahim cleaning then the camera zooms right into Ebrahim’s face showing us his facial expression and that his ethnic origin is again petite against the mighty English. He tries to run and as he runs the camera follows him showing us the point of view of the immigration service and how they hunt him down like an animal. He is caught and then taken away to be deported out of the country.

The final scene is that we see the immigration service dragging Ebrahim out of the Hotel with Jackie screaming at them telling them that he can’t go back to where he lives because he will be killed. This to me shows that some people such as Jackie treat everyone the same no matter what ethnic group they are.