TV Drama Representation- Ethnicity

TV Drama Representation - Ethnicity

There are a number of different ethnicities in the shot. These are all the workers of Hotel Babylon, who all have a range of ethnicities including White people, Black people, Asian people and immigrants. A wider shot is used here to show how the immigrants are staying together to stay safe. Also that the drama is diverse and accommodating. All these people are hiding to avoid the immigration police as they will be taken away otherwise. This shows unity how the group is protecting each other. This shot is as tracking shot to show all the characters, this then zooms into the middle character as she faints and falls to the floor. This creates drama and a serious emotion. 

Many of the people in the show are from different ethnic backgrounds, with different interests, personalities and behaviour. For example the woman in the shot is from an Asian background, who is shown on a computer working. Stereotypically this means she is a hard worker and interested in technology. Her attitude is kind and caring as she runs to help hide the immigrants, she reassures the other employees that everything will be OK. Later in the clip she is seen more angry at the police who is taking a worker away. There is another woman who is white with blonde hair and very well dressed. She is the owner or manager as she tells an employee a code word which sets off the chain reaction of hiding the immigrants. She is wealthy looking and someone who doesn't do much labour work. This shot is an establishing shot and high angle to show the female working alone in her office, on a computer and using technology as this is a typical stereotype. It is zoomed out to show her office and to set the scene of what work she is doing and what is around her in her office.

There is character who shows how important his ethnicity is to him by having a picture of his family from home in traditional clothing in his locker. This is the man who is taken away by the police, and the photo is found by the Asian female who helped hide the other immigrants. His ethnicity is important to him as he keeps a picture of his family. He could be sending ,only back home, to try to allow his whole family to have a better life. He tried to run away from the police but was caught, meaning he could be taken back to his home country and face death.  This close up shot shows how his ethnicity means a lot to him whilst working in another country. This draws attention to the photo of his family back home, to express how they will be feeling. This is also a typical stereotype of a black man, firstly his job is cleaning in a hotel, which is low paid, which implies he is poor. Also that he has a photo of his family in traditional dress which is bright, this implies he is from a tribe. 

White people are portrayed as better or richer than the people from other ethnicities. There is a white woman who is a manager or owner of the hotel. She is well dressed and intelligent as when the immigration police arrives she warns other workers to go and protect the immigrants. The police are also all white, which implies they are superior or 'in charge' of people of other ethnicities. The police are also stood in a triangle to show authority and make an impact when they catch the immigrant. This is much different from the immigrants who are black people and white people, who are the workers. These people do the labour work and are risking their lives by working for the white people. This is a mid shot, which shows the white police before they take the immigrant. They are stood in a triangle to create impact and by showing the black worker in the foreground of the shot the audience can see he is unaware that the police are here. This also could imply that the white ethnicity is more intelligent than the black ethnicity as they are one step ahead of him.

The Asian female is portrayed as kind and caring, but also weaker as she didn't understand why one of the immigrants had fainted. A female immigrant passed out when hiding and a cleaner gave her some jam as she was diabetic. The Asian woman didn't understand why he was doing this or that he was also a doctor, or knew first aid. Which shows how the black man was portrayed as someone with little or no skills as he was a cleaner. When in fact he has medical knowledge but can't use this as he is an immigrant and doesn't have the opportunity to have a better job .This is also arrogant of her as she assumes he is just a cleaner. She is then also very submissive, which is another stereotype. This shot shows the Asian woman zoomed in to show it is intense, dangerous and dramatic. 

The white female who owns the hotel or manages it, is in charge of all the staff. When the police arrives she tells another worker, a black man, the code and tell him to go and sort the staff out. She then tells the police he has a 'brain like a sieve' which implies he isn't good at his job, is unreliable or is at a disadvantage. Also, there is a black man who is cleaning when the police arrive, which meant he didn't get a chance to hide. However, no one went to warn him or distract the police, as they didn't want to give away their hiding place or risk being seen. This gives the impression that it was better to let him be caught than to risk any others being arrested. This shot shows the woman in charge telling the clack employee a code to warn the immigrants to hide. It is a close up to shower emotions and that it is a dramatic moment.

The message this clip is trying to portray is that people with different ethnic backgrounds can still work together, have friendships and protect and help each other. These immigrants where working in the hotel illegally, but the hotel allowed them to work as they knew the needed protection. There was a number of different ethnicities in their clip, including white people, black people, Asian people and many immigrants. It is clear that everyone's ethnicity is very important to them as they risk being deported back home. All the employees work together to stay safe together, this is an important message as all the workers are scared of being sent home to possibly death. It is the hotel's job to ensure all workers are safe and well. Within the different backgrounds people have different religious beliefs. One example of this is shown below where two workers who hid from the police are now safe and praying that their colleague is safe and paying their respects to him. This shot is zoomed out and wide, panning over to the main characters of the scene, after showing the background of the scene.

The white-British characters are portrayed as the intelligent owners and managers, whist some other white immigrants are workers doing labour work. A small number of black workers do higher paid jobs, and when they do their boss is a white- British person. There is a difference to the black workers who do mostly labour work, compared to the white- British workers who do the higher paid jobs. The 'baddies' are also white-British, this implies that people have split opinions about helping immigrants, even if it is breaking the law. This shows the higher paid, more respected workers telling another employee about the police. This is a zoomed in shot to show the urgency and importance of the situation.