Hotel Babylon is a BBC TV drama set around a 5 star hotel which employs people who are illegally in the country and try top hide them for authorities. Throughout the scene, there are hints in stereotypes of Ethnicity as well as the usage of certain editing techniques and camera shots showing stereotypes in ethnicity.
Firstly The receptionist asks ben if he has done his job yet to which he responds no, This is a stereotype of ethnicity as ben is black and it paints black people as unintelligent and unable to follow orders. Also Ben is presented as a 'magical negro' as his purpose in this scene is to help the white protagonists save the workers. Another note is that the women who asks Ben if he has done his job is wearing a white dress whereas Ben and other staff are wearing black uniform. This suggests that the Woman in the white dress is of a higher power of them and shows a stereotype in that white people hold the overall power over everything.
Secondly, cross-cutting is used during the scene when Ben and another man are running to alert everyone about the immigration squad coming in. This shows the sense of panic the hotel staff when the immigration squad come knocking and the stereotype that non-white people have to be ordered by white people just to be safe from harm, like they're almost pitied for being unintelligent enough to know when to hide.
Furthermore Fast-Paced editing is used to show the panic the rest of workers when they have to hide from the immigration squad, this is a stereotype of forgein people being very dodgy and untrustworthy even if they're well regarded in their community and again showing the stereotype that they're presented as people who should be pitied as everyday they have to be careful or face deportation. Moreover, the staff speak to the workers in their own language to reinforce the fact they are lower than them in the hierarchy and have to listen to them in order to survive.
Next, the staff are shown rushing to a cramped staffroom for their own safety from the immigration staff. This demonstrates that the immigration staff are the antagonists in the situation even though they are usually depicted as the good guys. This is a counter stereotype as is depicts immigrants as sympathetic people who are just trying to avoid going back home where they may be treated poorly or worse. Also it is evident that all of the workers are in matching uniforms expect for the person who is counting that they're all there and safe which shows the difference in status and that those in the matching uniforms are the lowest of the lows in the hierarchy.
When the staff are safe in the locked room. One of them falls unconsciousness and one of the black cleaners begins to order the other staff around and get them to help him make sure that the unconscious women is ok. This is a counter to the stereotype that we know of black people as he is shown as being very smart and Academic before becoming a cleaner, he is also shown to have some of the staff's respect as they listen to him and help him. This is reinforced when the cleaner states that he "wasn't always a cleaner", meaning that he is a counter stereotype of forgein people only working in either low-paid jobs or not working at all and having no education.
Afterwards, A POV shot is used to show A staff worker who isn't in the saferoom being found by the immigration shot before being captured, Again this is a stereotype of forgein people being unintelligent and unable to follow commands, it also shows signs of racial prejudice as its a group of white men taking a black person away as well as being humorous in the fact that before being captured, he trips over a hoover trying to escape making him seem clumsy and almost a pratfall to get the audience to laugh in a serious situation.
Finally, several establishing shots are used to show the different ethnic groups eating their food with one another, however none of them are interacting with the other ethnicities which implies the stereotype that forgein people don't want to integrate themselves into society and instead opt to stay with their own people similar to them, also shows that most of the workers work in low-paid jobs and eat in the same area, implying that they are of a lower status then the British workers there and do not hold much power or authority in the hotel. because of this some of them may be irrational to others that aren't from their ethnic background.
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