Watching the hotel babylon clip, i picked out key features in the four areas of sound, camera, mise en scene and editing. The word babylon, according to thefreedictionary.com states that the word babylon means A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption. Or a place of captivity or exile. However it also comes from the Biblical term for Tower of Babel where different languages where spoken, and disowning the language of God. This suggests that there are many different ethnicities presented throughout.
Firstly, I focused on the stereotypes that are also used to present the ethnicity. At the beginning a black man, even though he is wearing a suit showing higher status, is serving a white man, this could resemble the slavery days, and how the white people are still in control. Another stereotype about the white race in control is the two that are walking and discussing the cooks, and how one stole the others wife. The wife stealer is a Italian chef, which are highly considered to be the most adulterous types, especially males, with their charm and charisma. There is also the idea of 'sexy french maid', she is a part time stripper as well as a housekeeper. Finally the Chinese woman, who is represented as sneaky and quite, a common Chinese trait because of things such as ninjas and other movie representations of Chinese women. There is a contradiction in one stereotype, the presentation of the other black man, who wears a bright pair of boxers, contrasting with the hotel colours, with cainrowed hair, he has a 'gangster' dialect, and is presented as a typical British black boy would be. However the fact that he is staying in such a fine hotel could suggest he has money, which does not seem to fit with his persona but it could also symbolise he is a typical 'gangster' who does illegal things for money.
Focusing on the camera, the shot of the two black men meeting shows the impression that they know each other, showing over the shoulder shots, which insinuate the difference between the characters. However when both are presented in the shot, this shows they are still the same race and know each other. During the scene where the maids are stripping, the camera focuses on the oriental man, showing the intensity he has watching the women. The camera focuses on both women, this shows the same status, but focuses more on the younger woman to show her uneasiness.
Mise en scene is also another way the ethnicity was represented. The black man, the one that comes from the swimming pool has dreadlocks, and colourful boxers with stars on them. This shows the stereotypical presentation of the black British man. The other man was wearing a suit, showing higher status, although he's black, he's still serving a half naked white man. His facial expression show his unease with the encounter, but the other is confident and easy going. The french woman, a maid is wearing a traditional housemaid uniform, and underneath black lingerie, showing she does this quite often, giving the stereotypical image of 'Sexy french maid'. The cooks ethnicity is shown through his use of gesture, kissing the English chefs head and kissing his fingers, a stereotypical trait. The English one is big, and uses words like 'Pratt' showing a typical English race.
Next you see through editing the way ethnicity is shown. We know this is a multi-strand narrative. Showing mixed nationality, shot cutting separating the ethnicity. Chinese man cuts to music player, which shows how next scene will have diagetic sound involved, the music is from Moulin Rouge, seductive and french, like the french maid, this shows the similarity and stereotypes in picturing the women. The shots are quick, when showing the two black men, not staying focused on one person for long and showing the expressions involved. This represents a clash in ethnicity, because they think there is a conflict between two people of the same race, as they're both the same colour but they are completely different.
Finally sound is presented in showing ethnicity, both the diagenic, non diagenic and speech. The caucasian pair are more well spoken showing they're higher up in class, and in the managing of the hotel. The workers, such as the receptionist, and the chinese woman who apologises for the toilet paper inconvenience, are both also well spoken, with British accents, showing that they even though they are a different ethnic race they work for the same company and have the same status. The housekeepers and the guy named 'Tel' speaks in a 'slang' dialect using words like 'bro' this stereotypes the black population and could potentially stereotype the other black man however he's wearing a suit and is more well spoken. You can hear the sound of knife metal, in the kitchen, when the two cooks are arguing, the accent thew italian has is more foriegn, you know he is not from England.
In conclusion there are many different ways that show the representation of ethnicity, and in my opinion the most effective is the use of Mise en scene, because it uses different ways to show the stereotypes included in ethnicity, such as the use of dreadlocks and bright colours on the guys swimming shorts, also the use of a 'french maid' in a hotel.
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