7/30/2019 Hotel Babylon Esay

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Neha Raithatha

Hotel Babylon Immigration Raid scene

This clip is about the treatment of illegal immigrants working secretly in the UK. We are

shown briefly how the police and immigration officers work and the procedures taken to

keep the immigrants safe. There is a significant construction of the representation of social

class, which I will explore in close detail.

At the beginning of this clip, we see a mid shot of a man and two police officers walking into the

hotel. The camera then cuts to a medium close up of a woman dressed in white, who seems to be

working at the Hotel. The fact that she is wearing white makes her seem almost angelic. This is

because white has connotations of heavenly and pure. Her heavenly qualities soon become obvious

as she tells one of her workers to file some papers in the basement. The audience soon realises that

this was code for her telling her employee or warn the immigrant workers in the basement that the

Immigration officers were in the hotel. The fact that she does this means that the immigrants can

hide, therefore she saves their lives much like an angel would. Also, the fact that she is in a suit

suggests that her role in this clip is important and that she is of higher social class than the other

employees of the hotel.

The mid-shot of Jackie, who is sitting at her desk is shown from a high-angle. This makes Jackie seem

vulnerable and the scared expression on her face emphasises that danger is about to approach. Also,

the non-digetic sound in the background is eerie music that foreshadows that something bad is

about to happen. The beat of the music also quickens the speed of the shots and adds to the tense

atmosphere. Furthermore, we then hear the digetic sound of Jackie warning the immigrant workers

about the officers in another language which we assume is their native tone. The fact that she warns

them signifies how she must be the leader of their group and therefore has the responsibility of

protecting them against the officers. The audience feels sympathetic towards Jackie as the lives of

many workers are in her hands, and she must hide them so that they do not get caught.

The next shot is of Jackie and the immigrant workers running down the corridor, towards the

camera, then into a room. This whole shot is shown through cage barriers. The caging makes the

workers look like animals that are caged in and must be tamed and saved from the officers who

seem to act as predators. This also suggests that the workers are treated like animals due to their

ethnicity. This portrayal signifies that immigrants are treated as a lower social class, which is further

emphasised by their jobs such as cleaners and cooks, which would be at the bottom of the

occupation hierarchy in a hotel.

All of the workers are either wearing red or white. This could signify two things the red could

represent the danger that the immigrants are attracting and the white could highlight how they are

innocent people who are just trying to earn a living and are not doing any harm. The fact that Jackie

is standing at the front of the locked room and all of the workers are looking towards her makes her

seem like she has more authority and the suit she is wearing suggests that she is from a higher social

class. The positioning of the characters in this shot makes it seem like Jacking is herding her animals

into the locked room to ensure that she can keep them all safe.

7/30/2019 Hotel Babylon Esay

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