The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is a direct continuation of the cartoon that left our screens way back in 2005. Characters are a little older, while the world they inhabit has moved with modern times alongside a sociopolitical landscape that reflects growing up as part of a Black family in America. It feels real like few shows of its ilk ever manage to.
But the more things change the more they stay the same, a mantra that creators Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar have carried with them into this long-awaited sequel. It’s bold, colourful, stylish, and filled with characters that so many viewers can relate to. Coming to Disney+ on February 23, I recently attended a virtual press conference where I was able to hear the cast and crew talk about what this show means to them, and what it was like returning to this beloved animated family after so many years.
“In terms of storytelling it’s still the same,” Farquhar says. “We tell our truth as Black families, Black parents, Black children, and that's the driving force behind the vision for the show. But things do change. I think the Michael character is a classic example. You know, back in the day, we really couldn't lean into the LGBTQ dynamic because it was frowned upon to express in the context of a family show. Today, we don't care. So we're going straight at it. In addition to the cast, we have Zachary Quinto and Billy Porter joining as same sex parents. And so that's the most forward-thinking thing we have been able to bring to the
screen.”
From the first two episodes alone it feels like Louder and Prouder is so excited to bring this universe back to life, as if its creators had so many stories left to tell. Apparently the idea of bringing the show back has been floating for years, but with the arrival of Disney’s streaming service an opportunity finally arose for a proper continuation to be produced. It’s been 17 years, so a number of animators and writers now on the project were fans of the original show when it first aired, now carrying its original messages and building upon them in new and unexpected ways.
Louder and Prouder has two African-American female directors and a production crew filled with diverse voices that are able to offer their lived perspective. This was a deliberate effort, and even though it’s a big Disney show, Smith describes it as a creative vision where it still feels like something being created for him and those close to him. “That was hopefully the calling card to bring a lot of Black talent onboard,” Smith explains. “With the legacy of what Ralph has produced and what we set forth with this show and what I've done in this side of the industry, it really helped us stack the deck with African-American talent from all over the planet, and that's what really helped us really make the show that we'll see on February 23rd. I mean it's truly Black. It's blackity-black.”
Kyla Pratt, the voice behind protagonist Penny Proud, returns to the role like she never left. She awakens in Loud and Prouder’s opening episode with a body that has been through puberty, a smartphone, and friends waiting for her to attend the school dance. You’d think a timeskip like this would feel completely out of place, but here it feels natural because the show expresses a familial dynamic that works wherever in time you happen to be.
“It wasn't hard to try to find Penny because I just feel like she was that girl that everybody could relate to,” Pratt says. “She said what she wanted to say, and she loved her family and trying to find a balance of everything and I think that's how you know generations change but, ultimately, we're like the base of the same, you know? I'm tired of people telling me my voice ain't changed at all. In 20 years, it doesn’t even sound right. I don’t even realise how old I am until somebody says that. I'm like, ‘what do you mean? I thought I was 22’. Just to be able to be involved with this another time around, I remember when Bruce and Ralph called me, and I was like, ‘What kind of question is this?’ Like, absolutely. I'm just happy to be back with this family again, but it wasn't difficult. I got two little girls at home, so I see myself all over again, and I see that we're pretty much the same, just growing up in different times.”
Tommy Davidson’s turn as Oscar Proud was iconic, and the cast is filled with prominent actors and entertainers who have grown older, but remain attached to The Proud Family and were seemingly more than happy to return. “We're some skilled voiceover artists, man, that went from studio to studio and just hung through all the changes,” Davidson says. “The children that watched The Proud Family are like 30-something, and just watching how society changed and to still be a part of it, and we've always moved on a societal arc. The Proud Family always accepted what was going on. That's the best thing about the show. We always were aware of what was going on, but it's just a family, and we're a family.”
The enthusiasm across the cast is infectious, a sense of nostalgia permeating this celebration of a return that nobody ever expected to happen. It’s heartwarming. Cedric the Entertainer, who returns to the role of Bobby Proud, puts it best: “The fact that we still are, in a way, the only African-American-based animated show on television. On one side, it's bad that we haven’t grown from that, and on the other side, it really shows you the quality of the show and why it's important for it to be on. Although it took some time, definitely [thanks to] Disney for getting behind this, being a part of it, again, allowing the content to be what it is, and for the most part, staying out the way.
“Bruce and Ralph as creators, those are mainly the only people that I deal with when you come in, and we're able to have what's written. We're able to riff. We're able to come up with things that are our own ideas that we think the character might want to say and when it comes down to being a proud black family, that's pretty much how it works. Nobody really gets exactly how it works. The undertone of this is that through the years, we've actually become this family, these characters, and where they go and the direction that we go in is a great honour to be on a show like this and knowing that we represent in the animated world what it is to be Black and what it is to be animated.”
Some quotes were adjusted for editorial clarity. The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is coming exclusively to Disney+ on February 23.
Source: Read Full Article