Answer:
Semantics.
Explanation:
Semantics cares about the meaning of a word or a sentence. In this case, Altman is equating a genre's visual conventions with sentence's semantics. The effect might be the same: To use different combinations of words or drawings to achieve the desired effect. As Altman says: just as we know that some words don't logically work together, we also sense that a menacing castle doesn't fit in the Western. The example he uses means to find meaning in something that should not be there.
