ABSTRACT
In a general sense, the Shakespearean slingshot is a common technique. Game of Thrones is a Shakespherean slingshot. Similarly, Justin Kurzel and Michael Fassbender’s Macbeth was plugged as “Shakespeare meets Game of Thrones”. In a very general sense of the term, the Shakespearean slingshot has long occurred on the level of both individual text and entire discourse. In the 1970s, academic Shakespeare studies started catching up to the general public’s fascination with new modern art connected in some way to Shakespeare. With the expanding reach of recent Shakespearean offshoots, a new line of thought has emerged: the Not-Shakespeare discourse. The most compelling metaphor is probably the most obvious: the world, what some scholars call the Shakesphere, understood as an entire universe or microcosm in which Shakespearean creation and activity occurs. And reviews and promotional materials for a number of recent Shakespearean theatrical productions have billed them as “Shakespeare for the Game of Thrones generation”.
