Anchorage

As what I did for semiotics, I'm going to explain the term Anchorage. 

Anchorage is when the viewer (or the audience) is said to be 'all at sea' in a world of ideas and meanings, a media world in this sense.
There is no such thing as a fixed meaning. The best that a producer of a film/TV series/music artist/newspaper can do is to 'anchor' the viewer (or the audience) around preferred readings.
This is the process of anchorage. 

If you think about it metaphorically, when a boat drops an anchor into the sea bed, it doesn't stand still. This is because of the waves constantly moving, bouncing the little boat in the massive sea. So the boat is implying that it can never be tied down or 'fixed' on the sea bed, the sea bed symbolising the meanings and ideas of every individual in the world think.

For example, this picture anchors around the typical stereotypical French citizen that people who don't live in France generally see this type of image in their heads when the media mentions 'The French'.

Hope this is been useful for people do not get this term.
Peace out media lovers! ;)
Emily x