Representation of Race In Hotel Babylon

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The clip starts with a black male looking after an older white male, this is the old stereotype how black people are under white people. However, the black Male is polite and respectful. The stereotype of black young males these days is to them to be druggies, stabbers and rude, which are all negative, although this black male comes across real polite and freindly.

After serving the white male the black male is walking out of the room to what I presume to do another job. A Black male comes out of the water and starts talking to the polite black male, Benjamin Truman. Ben responds “how are you Tal?”, once again using "correct" Middle Class speech. Tal responds "never better man" this is not what Ben would speak like in this job; this is considered Working Class speech. By the look on Ben’s face he doesn't want to speak to Tal, this is not because he doesn't like him i think it is because he doesn't want to get into trouble or lose his respect from the people who are in the hotel. Tal says "look at you all slicked up bro", Ben says "it’s all with the job" this to me shows his dedication to his work. Ben just wants to get out of there away from Tal; he even uses an excuse "got to get back to the desk". Just from a few seconds of conversation you can work out that Ben is a dedicated man that wants to do his job well and is embarrassed by Tal who just wants to party and be the stereotypical "Youth" that Ben used to be. Tal mentions the old days this shows Ben used to be like Tal is today but has changed in order to fit his job and now doesn't fit the stereotype.

Scene 2 gives us two stereotypes. First of all you see two European women that are maids. one of them is talking about the Japanese man that is about to come into the scene. She says "he pays double for double" this i can assume he means he wants them both to strip and he will pay them double the money. So here is the stereotype of Japanese to be perverts and also to be rich to have the money to do this and also the Europeans to be poor and need money. The Japanese man looks old and slightly perverted but he can do whatever he wants because he has money he can get the European women who look young and attractive because money is his power. You can see that younger of the maids doesn't want to strip for the Japanese man she looks very nervous and shy and looks like she was pressured into it by the slightly older lady that looks like she has done this many times. The younger woman says "I’m sorry, i can't" this betrays the stereotype that we had upon this woman. However, the older woman seems that desperate for money she says "don't worry there are plenty more fish in the sea" and starts to what i presume ring up other girls to ask them to join her.

Scene 3 starts with someone from the hotel running round for what appears to be a British man, I believe it’s an British man because of his name "Mr Taylor". This shows the stereotype that British men are impatient and lazy.

Scene 4 begins with two British characters which i believe rather own or are high up in the hierarchy of the company. Judging from there accents they come from an upper class background. They seem to be talking or gossiping about one of the chefs which apparently is sleeping with another chefs wife. This is the stereotype of the upper class, gossiping about others because they think they are higher or more powerful. They want to stick out among the crowd of people by the uniform they wear; they wear ties and suits when everyone else wears "working class uniforms".

In scene 5 the two British characters from the last scene enter the kitchen. They get greeted by a little Italian man, this is stereotypical that he is in the kitchen because Italians are stereotypically good cooks. He comes across a jolly, nice, gentleman, "madam, welcome, welcome, welcome" this shows us he is either putting an act on or he is a jolly or slightly hyper person. He is wearing black so he is obviously the leader of the kitchen seems as everyone else is wearing white. The camera flashes over to a larger man and you see him shaking his head, this could mean that he thinks the Italian man is putting on an act or he just doesn't like the Italian man. Next he goes up to the large man and pats him on the back, the large man turns around and smiles, although this seems fake, just an act maybe to keep their jobs. as the high ranked British woman leaves the kitchen they seem to think that the subject they were just gossiping about was wrong, or corrected. The Italian seems to be a gentleman and blow a kiss to the woman. However, the high ranked man frowns slightly at the Italian cook almost to say he doesn't believe the act as he leaves the kitchen. After the high ranked man leaves the large British man starts having a go at the Italian, the Italian calls him an "English pleb" this could show that Italians are racist and think they are the superior country. As the argument starts to get intense the Italian man picks up a cleaver, this shows us a few things, that the Italian man is weak, scared, or oppositely could be violent or psychopathic.

In conclusion i think Hotel Babylon is lazy in the way they make the characters; it seems they just make their characters by choosing lazy stereotypes, which are mainly bad. You could argue that it isn't through laziness it’s because with these stereotypes the audience finds it easier to relate or understand the characters.