The Perfume Nationalist : A Cultural History Through Perfume, Media, and Resistance

A cultural history told through perfume, media, and resistanceSince 2019, Jack Mason has drawn unexpected and fascinating connections between fragrance, contemporary politics, television, film, and literature on his cult podcast The Perfume Nationalist. Each episode begins with a discussion of a perfume, often paired with personal reflections on scent, followed by an exploration of related media. There is a recurring theme of soap opera and maximalist narrative forms, along with an appreciation for popular works forgotten, dismissed, or underappreciated due to the censorious political upheaval of the woke era. The Perfume Nationalist stands as both a renegade education in the arts and an ongoing serialized reality radio drama chronicling Mason’s life. Conceived in defiance of the growing censorship, ideological conformity, and cultural decay of the 2010s, The Perfume Nationalist is both an act of artistic resistance and a personal liberation. This memoir traces the evolution of the show season by season, mirroring its format through alternating essays on perfume, film, and television. It offers a message of optimism, faith, and artistic defiance: when life becomes ugly and oppressive, you must have the bravery to create another world.