"The Proud Family" returns to the screens stronger, prouder and even more authentic!

*** This article originally appeared in the March 22 issue of Animation magazine (no. 318) ***

Penny Proud is growing up. The proud familyThe courageous XNUMX-year-old star, voiced by Kyla Pratt, faces a number of new challenges in the revival of the upcoming series, The proud family: stronger and more proud, including a "woken up" neighbor who thinks Penny could use some education, bullying social media influencers intent on deleting her and - so cringe! - The of her own adolescent hormones of her.

A continuation of the acclaimed Disney Channel series that was a cultural milestone for black audiences during its two seasons, The proud family: stronger and more proud arrives on Disney + on February 23rd. The new series, first announced in 2020, is produced by Proud family creator Bruce W. Smith (The Princess and the Frog) and television veteran Ralph Farquhar (moesha), with Calvin Brown, Jr. (moesha) as co-executive producer and story editor.

For Smith, The proud family it represented everything that was lacking in traditional animation, namely black representation, at a time when shows were popular Il Simpson, The Griffins e King of the Hill they dominated prime time television. "Where are the blacks?" he asks. "That's kind of what it boiled down to, and the inspiration for creating the show was, 'When are we going to be included in all the fun?' I grew up loving shows like The Flintstones e The Jetsons. As far as I'm concerned, being an African American who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, I knew that the only element missing from all of my favorite animated shows was us. "

In your face!

"Timing is everything," Farquhar adds, recounting how many times they had asked Disney for a revival in the 16 years since the show last aired in 2005. "Hey, we have to go back, we have to go back. And then, in the end, they said, 'Hey, you wanna do this?' And apparently, you could never have anticipated the world, the elements that were going to happen in the last couple of years, but they did. And a show like this is more urgent perhaps than the first time we aired. So, here we are. just very grateful for having excellent timing.

Much of the original vocal cast returns for Stronger and prouder, including Penny Trudy's mom (Paula Jai ​​Parker), dad Oscar (Tommy Davidson), Suga Mama (JoMarie Payton) and friends of Penny Dijonay (Karen Malina White), LaCienega (Alisa Reyes) and Zoey (Soleil Moon Frye). Bresha Webb and Aiden Dodson have taken on the roles of Penny's twin brothers, CeCe and BeBe, and EJ Johnson steps in to voice Penny's gay friend Michael.

The biggest changes in the show are "gender identity, obviously racial identity and awakening without quotes," according to Farquhar. “All of these things that we can now face directly, where 20 years ago we had to use the code to talk if Michael was gay, to talk about sexuality, we always had to be a little sneaky about it. Now we can somehow be in the face with this much more. And this will be reflected in the narrative ”.

"We don't have just one gay person on the show who represents the entire LGBTQ + spectrum, you know what I mean?" Smith adds. “Because that's not what we see when we go out. Many shows that I remember seeing always had only one character, and that's not fair, because that's not how we see life.

Stronger and prouder also features a new assortment of recurring characters voiced by A-list talent, such as the Leibowitz-Jenkins family, which includes Maya (Keke Palmer) and KG (Artist "A Boogie" Dubose), who not only face the struggles of being the new kids, but also - in a first time for Smithville - to have two dads, Randall (Billy Porter) and Barry (Zachary Quinto). Chance the Rapper, Gabrielle Union, Tiffany Haddish, Lil Nas X, Lizzo, Leslie Odom, Jr., and Lena Waithe, among many other stars, also make guest appearances.

Farquhar says the show's main focus was to increase Blackness's spectrum. “One of the things we are really happy with Proud family is that we are unapologetically black, "he explains." We strive to be as authentic as possible in regards to being black in America and all its nuances, if you will. So no character has to bear the weight of an entire race of people".

Produced by Disney Television Animation, the images for Stronger and prouder are supervised by art director Eastwood Wong (Carmen Sandiego), with animation provided by WildBrain Studios and Snipple Animation. “The technology has somehow caught up with how we visually create the show, so this time it's a lot brighter and the personalities really read. The animation really fits the style of the show, "says Smith." We think it's a great match between the writing and a visual palette that really complements the writing and humor. "

The "fun part," Smith said, was making sure the production crew mirrored the characters and the voice cast. “By working with Disney this time around, we really filled our production staff, not only artistically but also, culturally, where we wanted our show behind the scenes. If you look behind the scenes, everyone who is producing the show looks like what you see on screen. So, that idea of ​​diversity and inclusion also exists on the production side of our show. And I think you will see it on the screen.

For episode directors, Farquhar and Smith chose to work with fresh, untested talents, including Rudi Bloss, Latoya Raveneau and Tara Nicole Whitaker, who would bring an authentic point of view to the series. “I have to pay a special compliment to our directors, because the interesting thing is… neither Bruce nor I were teenagers,” says Farquhar. “And when we were teenagers, girls didn't joke about us! This is, I think, the extra element this time around, and that point of view is simply exhilarating in terms of the moments and scenes that have been accomplished. "

Smith's new character designs are another big change for the new series. Penny and her friends have all been revamped, and even characters like Penny's uncle, Bobby Proud (Cedric the Entertainer), have been updated for the new millennium.

“When Ralph and I sat down and talked about what we wanted to do to move forward, one of the things we thought was important was to age the characters,” says Smith. "They still look the same in essence, but we've aged the characters and visually brought the show with it."

Take Penny Proud and her friends on a sometimes exciting journey of discovery Stronger and prouder, the EPs knew the visuals "had to ride with that," as Smith puts it. “There's a level of dimension we've added to the images to make sure they can help carry the weight of these stories,” she says.

“We knew there was a certain level of gravity that we were going to add to the show. We get very emotional at times, "continues Smith, noting that Penny and her friends experience several new firsts, many of them difficult." So there's a certain cinematic flair we give to these emotional scenes that we probably didn't do the first time around. . But we made sure we really took these opportunities to make sure they were as believable and touching as possible. And then, when we get out of the shackles and get very wacky in some episodes, we really bring that cinematic touch to that too. "

Acclaimed composer, songwriter and producer Kurt Farquhar, who wrote and composed the iconic theme song for The proud family, also returns as a series author and composer for Stronger and prouder. The new theme song, which preserves the lyrics and melody of the original, is performed by rising R&B star Joyce Wrice.

"You can't mention our show without mentioning the music," says Smith. "Solange and Destiny's Child did a fantastic job of really structuring the original theme, so we wanted to deliver that cloak to someone else to realize the full potential of what they have prepared for today."

The process of selecting songs begins in the writer's room, as Farquhar recounts. "It starts with young writers and old writers," he says, describing how they would go back and forth from current needle drops like Lizzo to remaking songs by older artists like Shuggie Otis and The Brothers Johnson.

This is my jam!

Looking back The proud familyFarquhar's Legacy, says, "I don't think we were quite aware of how important this show was to the young black boys of the time, people of color in general. In later years, it occurs to us over and over again that people say, 'Oh my God, I love this episode, there were Muslims' or 'Oh, I loved the first time I saw myself in a cartoon.' It became clear to us that the show, for whatever reason, was very, very, very important to people. And so we know we have a huge responsibility towards our audience. There are high expectations ".

In addition to creating a successful show, EPs have equally high expectations for themselves. “We hope this show resonates, not only with the now grown-up audience with 12 and 14-year-olds, but with today's kids as well. And that they will see themselves, that they will feel reflected in what we are doing, ”says Farquhar.

“So our hope is that this show will prove as important to a new generation as it was in 2001 when we first debuted. Normally, you would like to have ratings and earn money. But our hope is to truly provide a model for a new generation, what it means to be black in America and one that they can watch again and again, have fun and laugh. Hopefully, in 20 years someone will say, 'Hey, I remember Proud family in 2022. That was my jam. '"

The proud family: stronger and more proud will debut on Disney + on February 23.