‘Long Story Short’ is a moving tale of a modern Jewish American family

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Long Story Short,” debuting on Netflix this Friday, offers a delightfully quirky, bittersweet, satirical, often absurd, yet profound narrative centered around a middle-class Jewish family, unfolding from the 1990s to the 2020s. Despite its comedic and dramatic exaggerations, the series presents a remarkably accurate portrayal of family dynamics, relationships between siblings, parents, and children, and the poignant themes of time’s passage and the richness it brings. The season comprises eight episodes that begin and end with heartwarming funeral scenes.

During a flight back home, Avi Schwooper (Ben Feldman), whose surname is a fusion of his parents’ Schwartz and Cooper, shares Paul Simon’s “The Obvious Child” with his new girlfriend Jen (Angelique Cabral). In this song, a man matures from infancy to marriage within a single verse. Avi comments, “That’s life, isn’t it?” Establishing the show’s central theme and approach. Throughout the subsequent episodes, we witness the formation and dissolution of relationships; the birth and growth of children, not necessarily in that sequence. Life evolves, relationships crumble, some endure.

Avi, a character, was crafted by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the mind behind ‘BoJack Horseman’. He shares some similarities with his creator. Lisa Hanawalt, known for her work on ‘BoJack’ and the creator of ‘Tuca & Bertie’, designed Avi. The visual style is reminiscent of a vibrant children’s book, featuring bold, wobbly lines, squiggly patterns, and a deliberately flat 2D aesthetic. Despite its childlike appearance, it exhibits a surprising level of sophistication and vivid expressiveness, with lifelike details that do not attempt to mimic reality.

Avi is a music writer whose parents, Naomi Schwartz (played by Lisa Edelstein) and Elliot Cooper (Paul Reiser), have very different personalities. Naomi is intense and serious, while Elliot is laid-back and humorous. Avi eventually marries Jen, a blonde, non-Jewish woman, and they have a daughter named Hannah, who is smart but socially isolated.

Avi’s older sister Shira (played by Abbi Jacobson) is the angry middle child in the family. She starts a family with Kendra (Nicole Byer), a Black woman who has converted to Judaism. The youngest brother, Yoshi (Max Greenfield), sometimes feels like an extra member of the family and was diagnosed with ADD, dyslexia, and executive function disorder as a teenager. Naomi admits that she may not have given him enough attention growing up, but now he struggles with these challenges.

Each episode of this show presents a unique story that contributes to the overall picture, with diverse themes: Yoshi’s venture in selling tubular mattresses, Avi getting entangled with self-righteous parents over the presence of wolves at Hannah’s school (the wolves are portrayed realistically), Kendra working at an arcade for birthdays named BJ Barnacles, Yoshi embarking on a nighttime escapade in San Francisco (set around the Bay Area) with his sister’s former friend to retrieve a lost bag, Shira trying to recreate her mother’s knishes, and an impromptu shabbat at a desert motel. Family humor like “Cousin Moishe’s” claim that something is not a “schnook” adds to the charm, as well as a school holiday pageant with a song in the background that celebrates diversity (“Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa too / We tolerate them all, but there’s nothing like Christmas”). The plot also includes significant milestones such as Yoshi’s bar mitzvah and Naomi being recognized for her charitable work. The narrative occasionally incorporates quirky inventions: a ham delivery vehicle, potato ice cream and soup-on-a-stick food trucks, and something called Pacifier Shirt Syndrome that results from rubbing a dropped pacifier on a shirt.

In simpler terms, it’s been rare for Jewish themes to appear frequently in films, considering the industry was predominantly built by non-Jews and the culture of assimilation among Jews during that time. Even today, such representations are not common. Shows like “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and recent productions like “Nobody Wants This” and “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” offer glimpses of this representation. Also, Holocaust dramas occasionally emerge in the mix.

In this particular instance, it’s refreshing to encounter a depiction of a modern-day Jewish family in America that offers a clear perspective, despite the complex blend of traditional antisemitism, misused anti-antisemitism used as a university weapon, and criticisms mistakenly labeled as antisemitism due to their stance on Israel. This diverse family, spanning from atheists to converts, with varying levels of religious observance but deeply rooted in Jewish culture, provides an intriguing representation of the range of religious attitudes within contemporary Judaism.

Hannah ponders if her desire for a Bat Mitzvah could be seen as “cross-cultural adoption” or “adopting cultural practices not traditionally associated with one’s identity.

Your father might say, ‘If Adolf Hitler met you, I don’t think he’d be concerned about your Jewish status according to religious law. Instead, he would consider you part of the Jewish community and treat you accordingly – just like everyone else who was targeted by him.'”

This version aims to maintain the original sentiment while avoiding the offensive language and imagery used in the source statement, which references Hitler’s genocide of six million Jews during World War II. The paraphrased sentence emphasizes the idea that anyone who was persecuted by Hitler is, by definition, Jewish enough for others who share their religious background.

The show sometimes delves into complexity, requiring research like deciphering “Moshiach” for a joke, yet this depth enriches its universe. Anyone who has experienced sharing inside family humor, longing to ask questions of departed loved ones, or discussing unclear parental actions with siblings will resonate with it.

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2025-08-22 10:31