Ethnicity in the media (Hotel Babylon clip) 

In this clip there are a number of ethnic groups being portrayed generally in an offensive way.

long shot

 In this scene the white woman is portrayed as the authority in the situation, shes wearing white which indicates purity, whereas the Asian girl next to her is in black and red, which stereo typically carry negative vibes with them. Shes also on the phone and using technology which is an Asian stereotype. In this scene the white woman is shown as superior due to the fact shes in the center of the table seemingly lit up more than the girl next to her.  

close up

The character in this scene is hoovering the hallway wearing cheap looking uniform, this indicates hes poor as his job is catering in a hotel. This is a black stereotype and his body language suggests hes weaker than other characters, later in the scene hes tackled by white police officers which shows hes being portrayed as weak and we get the idea hes doing something wrong if the police are attacking him.



close up

In this scene the character supposedly African due to his accent and appearance helps a woman who's collapsed due to diabetic issues, his efforts to help are shown in a way that is surprising which seems patronizing as if hes not supposed to be clever for his race. The Asian character asks him for help in this scene and then thanks him, this re enforces the Asian stereotype of being thankful and submissive towards people.

close up / tilt shot

This scene shows the Asian character looking distressed and afraid when hearing a knock at the door, her body is slumped in a way that portrays her as scared or weak, this enforces the shy submissive stereo type of the Asian community on TV. However shes the authority figure in this situation highlighting that shes above the other ethnic groups that are present with her, which is re enforced by the fact shes in the center of the shot with the lighting concentrated on her; in contrast to the dark background where all the other characters are.

close up

The person in charge of the 'raid' on the hotel is white, which immediately indicates hes being portrayed as more powerful as he has the authority to take who he wants from their job/safe place. In this scene hes also blatantly racist about the person hes just arrested and shows no sympathy for his life, this makes us pity the character who's been taken.

close up

The two supposedly white characters are in white again. They're also standing mostly in focus of the shot and in front of the two people behind them, who are dressed in red and at the back of the shot mostly in the dark. The contrast of colours makes us separate the two sets of people and assume they're different, and assume the people in red have a different / worse job than the other characters.

When cleaning out the locker of the person who was arrested pictures are up on the door of it, they depict a tribal looking setting that looks like its taken in a different country. This supports the idea TV sees black people as exotic and it makes us perceive things that way too.

Pan shot

In this scene the authority is the white person again, who hastily tells the barman to get everyone free drinks after the raid has happened. The barman is not white and has an accent that seems Italian and she talks to him as if hes lower than her. Hes portrayed as weaker in this scene and obeys her very timidly.

Whip pan

This shot pans across all of the ethnic groups eating and talking, each table seems to have a different ethnic group on it and with it a lot of stereotypical behavior. This infers within an ethnic group all the people actively portray stereotypes, act exactly the same, and eat the same food etc.

Tracking shot

In this scene one of the characters collapses due to a diabetic issue, it seems unnecessary as if the producers just want to portray the character as pathetic and unable to handle situations of high caliber. It could however highlight the seriousness of the situation and we do pity the characters and fear for them.