« LA COMÉDIE EST UN MIROIR / QUI RÉFLÉCHIT LE RIDICULE » : LA VACCINE (1801) DE MOREAU, PONET ET DUMERSAN ENTRE DÉBAT MÉDIATIQUE ET POLITIQUES CULTURELLES

At the end of the 18th century, Jenner’s discovery of smallpox vaccination became apolitical issue in France due to Napoleon’s interest. The Premier Consul encouraged its dissemination. While the vaccine’s effectiveness is evident today, the technique encountered a considerable resistance at the time. This is evidenced by the plethora of publications it generated and the scale of a media debate where the expression of atavistic fears complemented scientific considerations. In May 1801, Jenner’s practice arrived on stage with La Vaccine, created by Moreau, Ponet, and Dumersan at the Théâtre de la Cité. Despite the absence of an explicit position (due to censorship), the playwrights participated in the ongoing debate. The major presentation of anti-vaccination arguments, the intertextual references to satirical caricatures, the comic devices used to mock vaccinators and their supporters, the absence of any scientific discourse supporting the new method clearly show that the authors are, even in a burlesque and comic way, expressing the (more or less irrational) fears and hesitations that haunt the collective imagination of the time.