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Penny Proud
The Proud Family / The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder character
First appearance	""Bring It On" The Proud Family
Created by	Bruce W. Smith
Voiced by	Kyla Pratt (2001-2005, 2022-Present)
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Family	Trudy Proud (mother) Oscar Proud (father) Suga Mama (grandmother) Bobby Proud (uncle) Bebe Proud (brother) Cece Proud (sister)
Significant other	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Brown (boyfriend)
Home	Smithville
Nationality	African-American
Abilities	x

Penny Proud is a fictional character who serves as the main protagonist of the Disney Channel animated series The Proud Family and its revival, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.. She is voiced by Kyla Pratt in both series and in the 2005 film, The Proud Family Movie.[1]

[1] https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/Proud-Family/Penny-Proud/

She was the first-ever Black female protagonist in a Disney series. - p. 355, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17482798.2015.1127835?casa_token=f48hdHejwtsAAAAA:6VMHkveHGX9s257XrvBbksIzCaa7ZnKYjQZPy921-AIi6KKV5YwAAa90czBh3U3XyiC-6hbnHV0

The most recent addition to Disney’s line-up of African American women characters appear in Bruce W. Smith’s Proud Family (2001 to 2005). Four of the six characters including the main character Penny Proud are women. Not surprisingly the lone black family to have a show on the Disney channel was created by one of the studios few African American animators. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12111-010-9139-9

Penny is

Use for information: The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, The Proud Family, The Proud Family Movie

originally posted about it here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Black Lives Matter#Q1 collaboration? (specifically here: https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Black_Lives_Matter/Archive_2)

use as sources: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22Penny+Proud%22

"For instance, in October 2001 the Disney Channel aired an episode of the Proud Family, a cartoon series aimed at the pre-teen audience, where the heroine Penny Proud realises the dark side of file-trading after she has been threatened with arrest by the police, been deprived of her computer and found that her local store had gone out of business (Wired News, 2001)"- p. 355, https://web.archive.org/web/20190430112920/https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-0-387-35695-2_22.pdf

results in here: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=A6DUBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22penny+proud%22&ots=hSyt5lv_DU&sig=DvED0ieyxTjlAYPkw5PIgNCxNW0#v=onepage&q=%22penny%20proud%22&f=false https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=S1uQBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA172&dq=%22penny+proud%22&ots=G03Os97rDr&sig=4XYfEIHH-ff5Sz_C8f-YSibwijU#v=onepage&q=%22penny%20proud%22&f=false

if translated: https://monografias.ufop.br/bitstream/35400000/1674/6/MONOGRAFIA_TianaConstru%C3%A7%C3%B5esRepresenta%C3%A7%C3%B5es.pdf

"While there are tweens of color represented within popular culture, such as Raven on the Disney Channel show That’s So Raven and Penny Proud on the Disney cartoon Proud Family, tweens are still overwhelmingly depicted as white"- p. 21, https://www.proquest.com/docview/305033390?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

Development

Creation

"Suga Mama's bold spirit comes from Smith's mother, though his mom doesn't look anything like the character and isn't as feisty as the gallant grandma. Oscar, the goofy dad, and Trudy - the show's most "grounded character" - are based on Smith and his wife, Denise. Penny's mantra, "I'm Penny Proud and I'm cute and I'm loud and I got it going on," resonates with the teen audience, which makes up the show's core audience."

“People and stuff that you see on 'The Proud Family' is what I grew up seeing in my Inglewood neighborhood. The character Penny is just like my daughter Rachel,” Smith admits. “I just kind of did a sketch of my wife and myself in caricatures and that kind of formed the Oscar and Trudy.”

"Production of The Proud Family was originally ordered by Nickelodeon in 1999, as sort of a black version of the Rugrats (http://www.rugratonline.com/ntnot.htm). Bruce Smith, an African American, is both the creator and executive producer of the show. In this series, 14-year-old Penny Proud is battling with adolescence, while trying to cope with her unique family (http://familyscreenscene.allinfoabout.com/tv/proud.html). The Proud Family airs regularly on the Disney Channel, during Zoog Disney."- p. 22, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Fat Albert and Penny Proud are the main protagonists of their respective shows, not the token black characters." - p. 22 https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Chapter Three, "I'm Penny Proud, I'm Cute and I'm Loud, and I Got It Goin' On": African American Representation and the Color/Culture Conscious Narrative of the Disney Channel Series The Proud Family, looks at the Disney Channel program The Proud Family, which ran from 2001 to 2005. In this chapter, I explore the atmosphere of Disney Channel during the early 2000s, when The Proud Family premiered, in order to understand the network’s increased emphasis on racial and ethnic visibility. Specifically in this case, I look at a program with a color/culture conscious narrative. I also examine the importance of the rise in the tween market, which became Disney’s primary target niche market, and consider how The Proud Family fit within this structure. Like Maria-Perez Brown, Bruce W. Smith, the creator of The Proud Family, played an important role in the journalistic discourse surrounding the marketing, branding, and constructed authenticity of the program. Finally, I analyze an episode of the series in depth, exploring the color/culture conscious storyline through its focus on a tween interracial crush. Throughout the chapter, I place what happened with Disney Channel in relation to what was taking place at Nickelodeon during this time in terms of their approach to non-white leads and tween programming. I also question how live action may differ from animation in the representations and discourses surrounding children’s programming and race and ethnicity in television. In conclusion, I discuss the legacy of African Americans on children’s television, and in particular, on Disney Channel and in animation"- p. 19-20 https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/26544/BLASSINGILLE-THESIS-2014.pdf (also see Chapter Three, "I'm Penny Proud, I'm Cute and I'm Loud, and I Got It Goin' On")

""The Proud Family" features many of the conventions that have governed every animated sitcom since "The Flintstones," although with a few new, socially relevant tweaks. The show centers on teenager Penny Proud (voiced by Pratt), who lives with her breadwinning mom, Trudy (Paula Jai Parker); her harried, entrepreneurial dad, Oscar (Tommy Davidson); and her live-in grandmother, Suga Mama (Jo Marie Payton). Complications arise not only at home but at school and around the neighborhood, particularly with the Prouds' neighbors, a Latino family named Boulevardez (the family's teenage daughter, voiced by Alisa Reyes, is La Cienega Boulevardez). But the creators were careful not to turn out a show that could just as easily have been done in live action. "The concept was to do an animated sitcom with things that would be impossible in live action," Smith says. "This show is heavily action-oriented, and there are characters that can play on both sides of the fence. They can be very elastic but at the same time be very much like a sitcom actor." "From a writing standpoint, it is so much more liberating in terms of the scope we can attempt," he says. "Here we are doing a half-hour episode for Black History Month, this sort of 'Black to the Future' premise where Penny goes back in time to 1955 and experiences some of the things a young black person might have gone through in the '50s, [and learns] the importance of Black History Month. Her being blown, literally, by an ill wind back to 1955--we could never do that in a live-action half-hour, where you have to stay in the living room, the workplace set and maybe one other swing set."

"about a middle class African-American clan"

"In the case of "The Proud Family," it started off with some caricature sketches of me and my wife and that's what kicked it off the ground. And Suga Mama was born from my relationship with my mom to some extent, so that was probably my closest personal connection."

"“I remember pitching it around town and initially we pitched it to Disney first, an earlier version of Disney Television,” Bruce shared. “This was 1997, 98. At the time, they weren’t really vibing the idea.” At the time, diversity was just starting to expand the landscape of live-action TV with shows like Sister Sister, Moesha, and Smart Guy, but the wave hadn’t touched animation yet and the industry was cautious. That’s when Bruce pitched it to Nickelodeon, who was very interested. “We made the pilot with Nickelodeon and it was great..” But after the production was handed to Nick, they tested it with a lot of focus groups in non-Black areas and it didn’t get a great response. “Everything was sort of geared towards our culture so if you’re not embraced in the culture, you might not understand it.” As luck would have it, Disney Channel had a representative secretly attend a lot of the screenings and one day Bruce got a call from them saying if Nickelodeon passes he should give them a call. Nickelodeon let their contract for The Proud Family lapse, allowing Bruce to revisit the concept with Disney and the rest was history."

these?

another interview https://www.vulture.com/article/proud-family-louder-and-prouder-revival-interview.html

https://www.cbr.com/proud-family-bruce-smith-ralph-farquhar-interview/ (see last question)

Voice

interviews with Kyla Pratt: - https://www.cbr.com/proud-family-kyla-pratt-jo-marie-payton-interview/ - https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a39134344/the-proud-family-kyla-pratt-black-girlhood-interview/ - "In her teens when the show debuted, Kyla Pratt led The Proud Family as Penny Proud, a high-achieving, involved student with a typically teenage relationship with her parents. Pratt came into the gig after picking up credits for Mad City, Doctor Dolittle, and Love & Basketball. In the years since Proud Family's 2005 wrap, Pratt continued her run on One on One, hit the big screen in Hotel for Dogs, and played Crystal in Let's Stay Together."- https://ew.com/gallery/proud-family-voices/

A lot of Black girls saw themselves in Penny and therefore in you. Do you think that this influence, this kind of celebration and representation, will continue with the reboot? pratt: What’s amazing about our show is that I didn’t realize at 14 years old that we needed that type of representation. That wasn’t my thought process at that time. At that time, I was just a young girl who was a teenager who wanted to be around her friends but also had an amazing job and got to act. I didn’t realize until years later the impact that The Proud Family had on me, mainly because people would always come up to me and let me know how much of an impact it had on them. It made me realize that representation matters so much. It’s important that we have a show like The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder out now because we need it. We need it. I’m so excited for my kids to see this type of representation with their type of subject matter. https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a39134344/the-proud-family-kyla-pratt-black-girlhood-interview/

Profile

Penny is a 14-year-old African-American girl who lives in Smithville. She has..., and typically wears... [included about her personality, appearance]

Penny is [describe her]

"A Disney Channel classic, "The Proud Family" was created by Bruce W. Smith and ran from 2001 to 2005. The show follows the titular family, which includes teenage daughter Penny, her infant twin siblings BeBe and CeCe, mother Trudy, father Oscar, and grandmother Suga Mama. "The Proud Family" was one of the first animated series to focus on a Black family, with a thriving ensemble cast voiced by predominately non-white voice actors." https://www.insider.com/best-kids-cartoons-stream-netflix-disney-plus-hulu-hbo-max#the-proud-family-11

"Kyla Pratt will reprise her role as protagonist Penny, the Prouds’ plucky and precocious teenage daughter and the engine that drives the show. Though Penny may be Pratt’s most iconic role, fans may also remember her turn as Brianna Barnes on the early 2000s sitcom One on One or as Maya, the daughter of Eddie Murphy’s character, from the Dr. Doolittle film franchise."- https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/proud-family-reboot-voice-cast

“I’m Penny Proud, I’m cute and I’m loud and I got it going on.”—a phrase I can never forget, belted out by none other than Penny Proud, while wearing her signature look: a wine-colored skirt and cardigan, white button-down, white socks, and classic black Mary Janes (and eventually burgundy sneakers). https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/proud-family-representation-needed-then-210602764.html

"Proud Family’s main character is Penny Proud, a 14-year-old African American girl. Penny lives with her parents Oscar and Trudy, her twin brother and sister, Bebe and Cece, and her grandmother Suga Mama."- p. 59, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

What the Luz Noceda article says about her: Luz Noceda is a 14-year-old Afro-[18]Dominican-American girl[19][20] from Gravesfield, Connecticut.[21][22] She has short dark brown hair, brown eyes, and typically wears a cat-ear hooded indigo-and-white t-shirt, denim shorts, black leggings, and white shoes.

Luz is very quirky, outgoing, and unpredictable. She is a fan of the novel series The Good Witch Azura. She loves fantasy to the point of being detached from reality and has a hard time making friends.[23] However she still does have a heart and good intentions. In the first episode of the series her mother sends her to a reality-check camp, but she accidentally ends up going to the Boiling Isles instead through a portal in a nearby house.[24][25] Due to her love of all things fantasy and magical, she wants to become a witch.[26] She soon becomes a friend of a small wolf-like demon with a skull-like head named King, and Eda's apprentice.[27] Later, Luz enters Hexside Academy as a new exchange student.

"Penny, the protagonist of the show, and her mother Trudy are illustrated as lighter skinned than Penny’s father. They wear their hair straightened and we never see the characters with their hair in its natural state. Trudy is slim but curvaceous. The two characters who have the most depth and with whom the viewer is meant to relate and empathize are clearly signified as African American but with many Eurocentric features. Although Penny and her mother, two principle characters, are given multiple socioemotional dimensions, the writers and animators use of secondary and guest female characters is more rudimentary and relies heavily on colorist notions and stereotypes."- p. 60, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

"The Gross sisters are three of Penny’s classmates who are the school bullies. Penny and her friends are fearful of them and are often tormented by the trio...Penny shows her disgust with their presence at her birthday party by saying “Those monsters are not my friends.”- p. 60, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

"Dijonay, Penny’s best friend, is used to add an element of comic relief to the show"- p. 60, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

"She is consistently mocked for her interest in Stiggy, another of Penny’s friends. The idea that she would be attractive to him is ridiculed. In the episode “Poetic Justice” (Smith, 2002), Stiggy refuses to play the bass for Dijonay in her poetry performance, telling Penny that “he wants to be as far away from her as possible"...Dijonay is a suitable friend for Penny, yet the idea that she may possess her own desires is not acknowledged as valid. Dijonay is also depicted as loud, mean, and aggressive"- p. 61, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

"Colorism has material consequences on African Americans both on the small screen and in the real world. Penny has three friends who are regularly features during season two of Proud Family. Amongst Penny’s friends, Dijonay is both darkest and has the lowest socioeconomic status. This is demonstrated by constant references to her apartment, which is too small to hold her many brothers and sisters and her inability to afford many of the luxuries in Penny’s home. LaCienega, another of Penny’s friends is illustrated with the lightest skin, thinnest nose, and longest hair of any of Penny’s friends. Her racial background is never definitively stated, though she speaks both Spanish and English in the show. She also lives in a home much larger than Penny and her family throws lavish parties. For Dijonay, Penny and LaCienega skin color and other phenotypic indicators of appear to coincide directly with family wealth."- p. 62, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

"Penny Proud must negotiate her identity as an African American women within the colorist boundaries imposed by the animators. The children watching this must also negotiate their own ideas of Blackness within these confines relating to beauty and socioeconomic status"- p. 63, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10646175.2015.1117028?casa_token=Z4VF-RMdST4AAAAA:4UU99krL8AM77QnYZj9F_osayT_QOmTfqj4hKIfP1QVtuVpw2I_iSyY6Iky5hx-aCni8UEn7wQo

Solange Knowles: In 2002, she lent her voice for the character Chanel, the cousin of the protagonist Penny Proud, in an episode of the animated television series The Proud Family.

"Various types of cartoon fare await children when they awake on a Saturday morning. On an episode of The Proud Family, a young black girl, Penny, confides to her uniquely-named friends, Dijonay and LaCienega."- vii, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Fat Albert and Penny Proud are the main protagonists of their respective shows, not the token black characters." - p. 22 https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"On the surface, Oscar Proud, Penny’s father, seems harmless. Oscar also appears to be the most reminiscent of a “Coon.” Oscar is a business failure, is dominated by his own wife, a prop used for physical humor, and is usually loud and argumentative. He is one of The Proud Family’s main characters, and appears on almost every show. He is the male character that viewers see the most. However, several of his character traits are dangerous when considered on a larger scale. In fact, he seems to mirror “The Coon” in many ways."- p. 36, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Oscar Proud and Wizard Kelly are not the only examples of stereotypical characters on The Proud Family. Dijonay, Penny’s best friend, uses excessive amounts of slang, possesses an unusual name, and is an irresponsible person."- p. 41, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"BeBe and CeCe Proud, Penny’s twin siblings, must also be discussed with reference to African American child-rearing. BeBe has a large Afro, and both babies are dressed in nothing put diapers, tee shirts, and socks. Their attire supports “The Picaninny” stereotype.""- p. 43, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Zoey is usually kind. She also displays her intelligence and sensitivity as much as Penny does. For example, in “Makeover,” she helps Penny to see that she is trying to control one of their friends, in spite of her good intentions. However, Zoey makes a distinction between herself and the others two times during this episode. The first is during the intro, while Penny, Dijonay, and LaCienega are helping her with her clothes and makeup. Penny gives Zoey her sweater, LaCienega her flower, and Dijonay stuffs a pillow into Zoey’s pants to accentuate her bottom."- p. 43-44, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Characters on The Proud Family are intelligent as well. For example, in the “Spelling Bee” episode, Penny makes it to the final round of the bee before she loses. In spite of this, Zoey is the known “nerd” (seemingly because she wears glasses) and the Asian Chang triplets are known as “the smartest kids in school.”"- p. 54, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"The Proud Family was an American animated television sitcom that aired on the Disney Channel from 2001 to 2005. The main character Penny Proud was a cute and preppy light-skinned girl, similar to her mother, Trudy Proud who was also light-skinned. Penny was a straight “A” student and very logical despite her cuteness and beauty. She was a talented singer and played on the boy’s football team."- p. 36, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1670223354?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"Penny’s father Oscar was the antagonist who frequently embarrassed her. She enjoyed hanging with her friends, even though they have got her into trouble numerous times and left her to face danger by herself. Penny listened to and always respected her parents, but often dealt with peer pressure. Oscar Proud was an over-protective father of Penny. He cautioned her to be mindful of her friendships. Oscar was characterized as hyperactive, immature, childish, but also an intelligent man. He owns and operates his own snack food business called Proud Snacks. Trudy Proud, a veterinarian was married to Oscar, and in turn often forced him to see the logical side of arguments. She was the levelheaded one. Trudy often advised Penny when she was in trouble."- p. 36, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1670223354?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"Proud Family also explored many depictions of colorism in a cartoon. Penny's selfish, chubby and enthusiastic best friend was Dijonay Jones, a dark-skinned girl with gold and blonde hair. She was portrayed as very aggressive and “ghetto.” She loved to gossip and has got Penny into trouble on numerous occasions. Dijonay would always chase the dark-skinned boy, who had a crush on Penny. She was loud and perceived to be too ugly to date or have a boyfriend."- p. 36, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1670223354?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"Penny also had a Caucasian friend Zoey Howzer and a Latina friend Lacienega Boulevardez. Zoey and Lacienega were not reduced to stereotypes like the dark-skinned girls were. Zoey is Penny's nerdy, insecure and timid friend. She is very insecure about her looks and wants to be accepted. Zoey is known for being a follower and Penny often has to talk sense to her. Zoey is the only Caucasian character in the main cast of the show. Lacienega is a spicy Latina who is stuck up and conceited though deep down inside, she is insecure and jealous of Penny. Penny is more down to earth and friendly with everyone, even “the gross sisters.” Lacienega and Penny constantly antagonize each other."- p. 37, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1670223354?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"The Proud Family centers around a preteen named Penny Proud, her mother, Trudy, father Oscar, grandmother sugar mama, and her little brother and sister Bebe and Cece. Penny’s friend group consists of her best friend, Dijonay, Sticky, Lacienega, and Zoey. Penny is as soft, sensitive, creative, feminine, and well-liked. The controversy with The Proud Family was Penny’s best friend Dijonay."- p. 45, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2546081358?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"African American Penny Proud’s father in The Proud Family owns a business that makes snack foods, and is constantly trying to develop better (and better selling) products."- p. 76, https://www.proquest.com/docview/305033390?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"Penny Proud’s best friend Zoey is described as “She’s so completely the opposite of cool, that there’s something cool about her!” (Disney “Proud Family”), and her appearance – skinny, with braces and thick glasses – reinforces her lack of cool. Penny’s other friend, Dijonay, is much heavier than either Penny or Zoey, and her boy-craziness is portrayed as making her even more unattractive. In both cases, the gangly Penny looks better by comparison."- p. 88, https://www.proquest.com/docview/305033390?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

2004 proud family family rap by Penny mentioned on page 105 https://www.proquest.com/docview/305167466?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

A first-look trailer was released as part of Disney Plus Day and will feature many of the leading cast members from the original incarnation of The Proud Family. Kayla Pratt returns as Penny Proud, the show’s main protagonist, Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud, Penny’s overprotective dad, Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud, Penny’s mom and Oscar’s wife, Jo Marie Payton as Suga Mama, Penny’s hip grandmother and Oscar’s mother/adversary, Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer, Penny’s geeky friend, and Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez, a frenemy to Penny. https://collider.com/proud-family-reboot-trailer-release-window-disney-plus/

https://www.ign.com/videos/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-exclusive-official-clip

"When it comes to the new Disney+ reboot of The Proud Family, the early 2000s Disney Channel cartoon about a pre-teen Black girl and her kooky family, not much appears to have changed on the surface."

"Penny's mother and father (a veterinarian and snack maker, respectively) push her to do the right things socially and in school and in turn learn a lot about their daughter's independent character and maturity."

"In 2001, The Proud Family became Disney's first Black animated series. Created by Bruce Smith, it was the network’s first animated series that centered and positively portrayed a Black family and shined a light on its multicultural community. For three seasons, we were treated with the lives of Penny Proud and her family; parents Oscar and Trudy, twin siblings BeBe and CeCe, and her grandmother Suga Mama, along with Penny’s friends, Dijonay Jones, LaCienega Boulevardez, and Zoey Howzer, until it ended in 2005...Penny's mom has a soft spot for animals...However, in one episode, Penny eats them [her father's snacks] and develops superpowers"

"Like her friend Penny, she’s also an activist. With the help of her aunt who is an attorney, she advocated for Penny to play on the boys’ football team at school...Penny is quite talented. At one point, she became a pop singer and formed a group with her friends. She also spits a Romeo and Juliet rap in an episode in the episode, "Romeo Must Wed""

"Voiced by Cedric The Entertainer, Bobby Proud is Penny’s uncle, Oscar’s brother, and Suga Mama’s favorite son. In an interview with the NAACP about the reboot, Cedric the Entertainer shared that his character’s style was inspired by a ‘70s soul group called the Ohio Players. His voice for Bobby was inspired by Sugarfoot, a member of the group, and each time he speaks, he sings to everyone and carries a microphone/amplifier with him everywhere. He even serenades the National Anthem and was a manager over Penny’s music career at one point. Penny may not have gotten her creative side from her dad, but her uncle may definitely been an influence growing up"

"The Proud Family centers around a Black family living in the fictional suburban town of Wizville, California. Penny Proud, a 14-year-old girl, is the main character. Throughout the show, she goes through the trials and tribulations of any ordinary teenager, like friendship drama, family dynamics, high school and growing up. She also has a diverse friend group comprised of kids from various backgrounds. The family itself provides representation of a Black family with all their own personalities and quirks. Oscar, Penny’s father, is loud, funny and very opinionated. Suga Mamma, the grandmother, is hilarious; she’s bold and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Penny’s mom, Trudy, is a perfect example of a nurturing mother, always supportive of Penny, while also keeping her in check"

Appearances

The Proud Family

When it comes to the new Disney+ reboot of The Proud Family, the early 2000s Disney Channel cartoon about a pre-teen Black girl and her kooky family, not much appears to have changed on the surface. In this new version, protagonist Penny Proud is a 14-year old who appears mostly unchanged from the show’s original run. https://slate.com/culture/2022/02/proud-family-2022-reboot-disney-plus-review.html

"This animated show had a distinctive art style and cast. Another show about a pretty well-off family comes into contact with Penny Proud (voiced by Kyla Pratt), trying to under stand her heritage. The Kwanzaa episode was memorable and for a Disney show, was quite ahead of its time. Aside from the usual teenage angst Penny and their friends go through, feminism also came into play when Penny wanted to join the football team. Through all the obstacles that life may throw at Penny, at the end of the day, her zany family was always by her side"- p. 7, https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=pacifican

small mention on page 32: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PRYvda7s3yUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA32

Postscript. Disney cartoons have never exactly been politically neutral (princes should become kings, and kings should rule), but would Disney risk its position as the trusted purveyor of sentimental blandness by putting a hard political edge into its entertainment? Decide for yourself. In the October 19 episode of _The Proud Family_, Penny Proud downloads a music file from a P2P network and soon finds her house surrounded by police. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,47806,00.html, https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4039765/suber_news10-26-01.html

The most prominent way that The Proud Family takes on the topic of race is in Season 1, Episode 16, "I Had a Dream." Penny bumps her head and is transported back to 1955, where she experiences firsthand the horrors of racial segregation. Notable presentations of racial issues like this episode are given throughout the run of the series, but even when an episode isn’t based on a racial issue, the show doesn’t ignore the fact that the family is Black and portrays them in an accurate way; a way that Black families and audiences can hopefully relate to."

In Season 1, Episode 5, Penny comes across a device called the EZ Jackster. Unlike the machines in The Matrix, the device is used to infect the whole world with a website marketing illegal free music downloads"

"I had never seen another Muslim kid on a children’s TV show until I watched an episode of The Proud Family that ran during its third and final season. In the episode titled “Culture Shock,” the main character Penny and her classmates are given an assignment that requires them to spend one week living with another family from their school who has a different cultural background than their own...In the last few minutes of “Culture Shock,” it becomes more clear why the majority of the episode relied so heavily on miserable stereotypes. Penny has a full circle moment after she witnesses the Zamin family experience a hate crime and attends a Eid al-Fitr celebration with them. To culminate her assignment, she gives a beautiful speech about her experience living with the family."

Season 1

x

Season 2

x

2005 film

"There's a scene from the Proud Family Movie where Penny and her friends battle the peanuts gang (no, not the Charlie Brown peanuts!). Throughout the seasons, you will see that Penny and her friends love to dance! In Season 1, Episode 20, the group forms a dance group called "LPDZ" and performs on the hip-hop show, “Hip-Hop Helicopter.” But in the 2005 movie, it was Zoey’s shining moment when the crew battled in a breakdancing competition. Zoey, voiced by Soleil Moon Frye, has her moment and brings the win home for the team. The dance battle scene also pays homage to the hip-hop, breakdancing scenes of the late ‘70s and ‘80s"

"Recent animated movies that include African-American women as starring characters include The Proud Family Movie (2005), whose lead character is 16 year-old Penny Proud [by the movie], and The Princess and the Frog (2009), which are both Disney-created movies."- p. 17, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"While Penny has managed to not provide any unrecognized support during her movie, when she does offer support it is to both her family and her white friend Zoey, who is portrayed as a considerably less capable dancer than her Mexican-American friend LaCienega and her African-American friends Dijonay and Sticky. Unlike Penny, Tiana’s support typically goes unrecognized."- p. 18, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"In The Proud Family Movie (2005), Penny spends most of her time feeling excited about auditioning for a position as a backup dancer for 15 cent, one of her favorite musicians. Penny’s father does not support her auditioning for the role, but lets her go when her mother supports her decision to audition. At the audition, Penny and her friends LaCienega and Dijonay are accepted as backup dancers. When her white female friend Zoey is not accepted, Penny begs the mean Black female dance coach to not eliminate Zoey from the troupe. The dance coach allows Zoey to join, but says that in return, Penny is eliminated from the dance group. The dance coach then calls in three Black teenage girls called the Gross sisters, who serve as “bouncers,” to remove Penny from the room. The Gross sisters, who have blue skin but Afrocentric features, are about to force Penny to leave when Penny receives the support (and romantic advances) of 15 cent, who is a young Black male character. After being rebuked by 15 cent, the dance coach and the Gross sisters retreat"- p. 18, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"While the dance audition scene in The Proud Family Movie (2005) clearly relies on certain representational stereotypes and unrecognized support elements for the minor characters like the dance coach and the Gross sisters, there is subtle innovation in the support dynamic surrounding Penny. Penny gives support to Zoey, and it is recognized. Penny’s ordeal gains a lot of attention from the characters around her, so she does not struggle quietly, or alone, on-screen; another character comes to her aid. Finally, once she is able to get what she wants, her friends spend a moment celebrating her success. Due to the fact that Penny is a starring character, the support dynamic favors her in a way that does not favor most other Black female characters in animation who provide support; in this scene, this can be most clearly seen through the way that Penny is favored at the expense of the dance coach and Gross Sisters, who are simultaneously subordinated and demonized."- p. 18, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"In The Proud Family Movie (2005), this is symbolized through the dancing abilities of Penny’s friends. The dancing skills of Penny’s Black and Hispanic friends go ignored and unacknowledged to the point of being expected, as opposed to the dancing skills of her white friend, setting up a support dynamic that is entrenched in a stereotype. One of the running subplots of the movie is that Zoey cannot dance very well, while her Black and Hispanic friends are skilled dancers. Dancing is a skill that Penny, LaCienega, Dijonay, and Sticky (a Black male friend of Penny’s) take for granted and do with ease, but for Zoey the idea of dancing is anxiety-inducing. When Penny and her friends must engage in a dance-off against the inhabitants of an island in order to be given access to the movie’s primary villain, Penny, LaCienega, and Dijonay easily transition into the dance battle as though having a dance-off is a natural occurrence, and do not acknowledge each other’s dancing skills. However, because Zoey cannot dance very well, she receives support and praise from them for her sudden, unexplained improvement in dancing."- p. 19, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"In her movie, Penny is able to not only dance on stage but is also able to both save the day before a live audience and then perform her own song to them, at 15 cent’s sanction...scar, Penny’s father, does not initially support her but does by the story’s end"- p. 20, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"As mentioned in the “Starring Characters” section, minor Black female villains are featured in The Proud Family Movie (2005). The main villain is unassociated with the Black female villains, and is a Black male scientist named Dr. Carver. The Gross Sisters and the dance coach provide unrecognized support to 15 cent, and lose all of their power once he speaks out against them and on behalf of Penny. They are villains that appear threatening until the person to whom they defer, who in this case is not a villain, shows his disapproval. It then appears that they are but a minor disturbance."- p. 31, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"n The Proud Family Movie (2005), Penny is the only one of her friends that is portrayed as romantically desirable, in spite of her being depicted as having a commonly nasty temperament. In one scene, her desirability is shown at the expense of two of her friends and the minor characters in the story; her friends Zoey and in particular Dijonay, are subjected to ridicule. When 15 cent first sees Penny and tries to talk to her, Dijonay becomes excited and tries to introduce herself to him. At this point 15 cent says to Dijonay, “Not you,” puts his hand up to cut Zoey’s introduction short, and then addresses Penny directly (The Proud Family Movie). Saccharine, romantic music then quickly floods the scene, as if oblivious to the less-than-saccharine actions that occurred in the preceding moment. Dijonay is a short girl of average weight with straight blond hair, full lips, and a complexion that is shades darker than Penny’s. To compound the matter, Dijonay also openly likes the character Sticky, who acts repulsed by making a disgusted face whenever she touches him. When compared to the way that Penny is treated, this treatment from both 15 cent and Sticky suggest a covert trend of devaluing the supportive Dijonay within the context of beauty"- p. 32-3, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"In another example of this (but in an instance in which her hard work is actually more of the result of her helpfulness, since she is not actively working to get permission to participate in the performance) Penny from The Proud Family Movie (2005) has a happy ending after working so hard to save her family. Penny spends much of the movie being angry with her father for not being allowed to participate in the performance, but is given permission when she demonstrates that she is a responsible girl who is devoted to her family and has won the affection of the crowd at the stadium"- p. 50, https://www.proquest.com/docview/518478290?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder

Season 1

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/reviewed/2021/06/28/how-watch-the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-disney-plus/7786192002/ (mention) https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-tt-0223-20220223-mlx7ckqe3fgg3j5b3ofjrig5ta-story.html (mention) https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/proud-family-reboot-trailer-watch-1235019453/#! (mention) https://www.etonline.com/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-drops-hilarious-new-trailer-and-premiere-date-177804 (mention) https://www.avclub.com/pennys-all-grown-up-in-the-trailer-for-the-proud-family-1848046800 (mention) https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/02/27/disney-plus-the-proud-family-series-revival-original-cast/4896319002/ (mention) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-disney-plus-trailer_n_618eaedde4b0c621c5ccd06e (mention) https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/proud-family-louder-and-prouder-disney-plus-guest-cast/ (mention)

"...While they all look a little bit older now, the entire cast remains pretty much the same as always. Penny’s mom Trudy is still the Proud family breadwinner, while her dad Oscar is still a hapless entrepreneur; Suga Mama is still obsessed with Papi from next door; and Penny’s crew—Dijonay, Zoey, LaCienega, and Sticky—is still in place except for one substitution: Michael, the queer-coded ancillary character of the original run, has replaced Sticky as a more permanent member of the group. Sticky’s voice actor, Orlando Brown, had an addiction-fueled public breakdown in recent years that also excluded him from the That’s So Raven reboot, Raven’s Home. Sticky’s (hilariously explained) absence ushers in the arrival of new characters: KG (A Boogie wit da Hoodie), Maya (culture’s booked and busy queen, Keke Palmer), and their dads, voiced by Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto."

"Episode 2 is the biggest signal of this contemporary cultural shift, given that its central conflict revolves around internet influencers, the power of social media, and the troubles of cancel culture. It follows the rise and ultimate fall (by Penny’s hand) of Makeup Boy, a beauty influencer voiced by none other than the internet’s favorite glamboy, Bretman Rock. By the end of the episode, Penny learns the power of social media fame and, *sigh*, cancel culture, although that conversation doesn’t quite fit into a 20-minute episode. This is not to say that this story isn’t relevant to Millennials and Zillennials alike—we’re the ones who invented bad and boujee, after all. But it’s the context that differs"

"One of the most telling moments is when the Gross Sisters, the blue-colored antagonists of Penny’s posse, show up for the first time; they are now in the music business, a too-common running joke about Black youth hustling for money with a mixtape and a dream that would have annoyed me if the show wasn’t so dedicated to the conceit. Michael sees them and immediately calls them ashy. You might be wondering why this is a problem, because that is the running joke, after all. But there were several recurring gags and references within the show that didn’t need to be explained to the Black audience its creators knew it had and aimed to please directly (akin to another staple of the Black film canon, A Goofy Movie). The Gross Sisters’ ashiness is an implicit joke that became an integral signifier of the show’s intentional and innate Blackness; calling attention to it makes the subtext gratingly explicit."

The returning voice cast keeps the show’s tone in place, especially when it comes to stand-outs like self-confident Dijonay and Penny’s funkadelic uncle Bobby. Best of all is that Michael, whose effete nature could sometimes be the butt of the joke in the initial run, has gotten a particularly beautiful tweak for Louder and Prouder. Described as gender non-conforming, Michael has fully blossomed into the sarcastic, stunning, and fashionable friend he was destined to be. As voiced by the similarly iconic EJ Johnson (child of Magic Johnson, inspiration for the show’s recurring character Wizard Kelly), he’s the flyest of the group, completely unapologetic in serving the realness the group needs to hear while giving them extreme makeovers—and always having their backs, too."

Others said that not much had changed in the reboot except they look older and more mature.

Kyla Pratt’s daughter is a mini Penny Proud! For Halloween, Pratt's youngest daughter dressed up as her character and the resemblance is exact- down to the black dot on her cheek. If there is ever a live-action movie of the Proud Family, let's hope they consider her!"

pages 85-87 of https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/2096/1/MQ77654.pdf [pages 94-96 of PDF]

Penny Proud is depicted as fair-skinned or light-skinned while her school bullies are depicted as dark-skin, unattractive African American girls. - p. 34 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2445407429?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

rap song mentioning her https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1952&context=senior_capstone

favorite hero, p. 99 https://www.proquest.com/docview/305379465?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"For example, on www.pbskids.org, children can leave their opinions about The Proud Family. Jalisa, a 14-year-old from Austin, Texas, writes, “I love this show because...as an African American there’s not too many shows with people of our culture. This also give (sic) an encouragement that this race is not left out, discriminated on T.V.” (www.pbskids.org, 2003)."- p. 23, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Though Penny does confide in her parents from time to time, she usually solves her problems independently or with her friends, but without her parents. Also, The Proud Family does not explicitly encourage children to talk with their parents the way Fat Albert does...If The Proud Family does encourage families to discuss certain issues, then these discussions are tangential, for the cartoon’s main purpose is to entertain its audiences"- p. 57, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

During the show’s original run, from 2001 to 2005, Penny went through the paces of early adolescence — goofing around with her multicultural crew of friends, pouting about chores, dodging school bullies and testing parental boundaries. While many of the show’s themes were universal, they were delivered in a way that was uniquely and intentionally rooted in Black culture. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/arts/television/proud-family-returns.html

The series, created by Bruce W. Smith, centers around Penny Proud, a 14-year-old African-American girl, and her family. The series was popular because it was one of the few animated series at the time that centered around Black characters, and it included important messages about cultural diversity. https://www.insider.com/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-cast-who-stars-2021-9

"...most of the girls of color who act in these shows (as well as the actors who play their family members) tend to conform to white standards of beauty...Kyla Pratt, the voice of protagonist Penny Proud on The Proud Family, voices a character whose skin is much lighter than her own."- p. 24, https://www.proquest.com/docview/305033390?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

She continued to describe the leading Black female characters on those shows: “I really enjoyed Raven. She was always there to help with the problem or an issue. She was always there to help fix something. In one aspect, it was really funny because she was doing crazy things. In another aspect, it's admirable that she's trying to help and she's genuine. I want to be someone like that, someone can rely on me and I can help them if they need something. Her and Penny Proud were curious people and they went out and did things. I've always been the type that wanted to go out and adventure and things like that"- 115, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2240099861?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

Penny, the 14-year-old protagonist, journeys through junior high school, tackling self-discovery, love and relationships, maintaining friendships, cultural differences, politics, and the ashy blue bullies—all topics that kids (and even adults) today can relate to. With her friends Dijonay, Sticky, Zoey, and even her frenemy LaCienega at her side, Penny navigates teenage woes. Aside from the positive depiction of the Black family dynamic, the show brought much-needed representation of a variety of issues to the screen, representation that is still needed 14 years later...There’s continuous empowerment and want for equality for women throughout the series. In the episode ‘She’s Got Game,” Penny joins the boys’ football team after her crush mocks her and insists that girls can’t play. Penny’s dad, Oscar, is very reluctant to the idea, especially the part about his teenage daughter being surrounded by boys. But Zoey, her mother Trudy, and grandmother Suga Mama back Penny 100%. Comments from the football coach and other members of the team show they’re still holding ideals of the 1950s, that women belonged in the kitchen, suggesting Penny go home and bake instead. Penny proves herself in crunch time, when the coach is forced to put her in the game after a slew of injuries plagues the team. Much like Penny, women today are still fighting for equality (specifically in the realm of equal pay). And while Penny encounters stereotyping in high school sports, today’s media climate questions the fairness of trans women competing against cisgender women in sports. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/proud-family-representation-needed-then-210602764.html

Hmm. Penny Proud (song), You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine, Disney Channel Hits: Take 1

trans woman with same name killed in 2015 https://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2205&context=etd https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.14321/qed.3.1.0098.pdf?casa_token=dfEij6aRxsIAAAAA:8PnSymJXKdZ9uyBMboEeODi2-doQghYl0giWG3Z7HSgOTr2KxdQru_ubZnt96gJBohgSjT-BriRLjmMlVvdohfzTjGQPyVkC_A0fLsUUeWd9_4ZsjQ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00064246.2015.1080911?casa_token=9EfiCu-ndToAAAAA:IbPOFUofENWAzphYiSoWxRDcMsVjiJPBcs6nq5nJfTmIDqwVixbcWjBEcaGx9v9yhSnYnhXBY24 https://www.proquest.com/openview/ac0ad941d21f6d7f80657da2bde5ad26/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=dif

Ahead of the launch of the new Disney+ animated series ‘The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder’, art displays inspired by protagonist Penny Proud and her family will be featured at Downtown Disney District and Disney Springs https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/108169/Disney%20Parks%20Honor%20Black%20History%20With%20%E2%80%98Celebrate%20Soulfully%E2%80%99%20Events%20_%20TravelPulse.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

"Anything intended to represent a human that does not quite look like the world they see is quickly identified as a flaw. For instance, when shown an illustration of Penny Proud from the Proud Family, children regularly ask, “Why is her head square?” and state they do not prefer the image to more realistic ones. They want images that look like what they see around them." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00094056.2020.1766654?casa_token=UoB3_aOacO4AAAAA:_oK0umbCTyVthyjXy9EuXe281O1ahiIV7pITsgHzf98ZP18SNxjQ503-gH2YK6ujXquf-shtmYE

Kyla Pratt reprises her voice role of Penny Proud. "I’m looking forward to fans finally getting what they’ve been asking me for, and for people to be able to travel back in their childhood by just watching something and feeling cozy and feeling the love and feeling represented. I’m excited for all of it," the actress told Cosmopolitan in an interview. https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a35650717/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-reboot/

"I'm a cartoon girl at heart. Doesn’t matter that I’m grown; I have no shame for it. But the problem with being an animated TV lover growing up was realizing how little Black representation there is in the genre. Of course, the TV landscape is a bit different now, but in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, there wasn't a mainstream cartoon character whose story really resembled mine as a pre-teen. That was, until The Proud Family premiered on Disney Channel in 2001. The Proud Family showed stories relatively unseen to white audiences—the everyday interactions of Black families—through approachable and lovable animated characters. It revolved around Penny, a 14-year-old Black girl struggling with her responsibilities as an older sister, having a controlling dad, and wanting to be popular at school (all of which are relatable to Black and non-Black pre-teen girls). What helped make this show so remarkable and beloved was the voice behind Penny: actress Kyla Pratt. Though we didn’t see her face on-screen in The Proud Family, Pratt’s influence on Black girlhood is non-debatable. From starring in TV shows and movies like One on One and Eddie Murphy’s Doctor DoLittle, Pratt was the Black girl role model for Millennials and Gen Z-ers alike, even before Raven-Symoné and Zendaya headlined their own shows (That's So Raven premiered two years after Proud Family.) The actress became a mainstay in the pop culture scene for over 20 years and shows no sign of slowing down as she prepares for her latest role: reprising Penny Proud in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder...Kyla Pratt spoke to ELLE.com about the impact of The Proud Family, being a role model for young Black girls, and how important representation is today."- https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a39134344/the-proud-family-kyla-pratt-black-girlhood-interview/

Crossovers

" In the episode entitled “Hooray for Iesha” of The Proud Family on Disney Channel, Penny Proud's favorite “UBM” series Iesha is canceled. Penny Proud visits the set to find out the lead actress playing Iesha named Sonny, played by Gabrielle Union, is unfriendly and difficult to work with and rude to castmates. The episode ends with Penny watching another UBM show entitled "My Momma and Me.", alluding to the real-life Moesha spin-off."- p. 17, https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=fmt_theses

"Yep, that’s right. Lilo and Stitch met Penny Proud. The episode titled Spats is a crossover episode, in which the Prouds go to Hawaii for a vacation. They stay at Lilo and Stitch’s Jumba & Pleakley's Bed Not Breakfast. The episode aired in 2005. In it, Lilo helps Penny with her school report, and the two, with Stitch, band together to capture Spats. This is not the first crossover character you’ll see in the Proud Family. Fellow Disney high schooler heroine/secret agent Kim Possible also made a cameo in this episode. Penny refers to Kim in a statement she made about strong females in The Legend of Johnny Lovely episode"

Reception

Penny's character was received positively. She was described by some as https://www.bustle.com/life/penny-proud-family-zodiac-sign-virgo

Her character was praised for epitomizing the experience of Black teenagers and allowing a generation of Black kids and pre-teens to see themselves represented and reflected in an animated series.

Others said that not much had changed in the reboot except they look older and more mature.

Kyla Pratt’s daughter is a mini Penny Proud! For Halloween, Pratt's youngest daughter dressed up as her character and the resemblance is exact- down to the black dot on her cheek. If there is ever a live-action movie of the Proud Family, let's hope they consider her!"

pages 85-87 of https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/2096/1/MQ77654.pdf [pages 94-96 of PDF]

Penny Proud is depicted as fair-skinned or light-skinned while her school bullies are depicted as dark-skin, unattractive African American girls. - p. 34 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2445407429?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

rap song mentioning her https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1952&context=senior_capstone

favorite hero, p. 99 https://www.proquest.com/docview/305379465?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

"For example, on www.pbskids.org, children can leave their opinions about The Proud Family. Jalisa, a 14-year-old from Austin, Texas, writes, “I love this show because...as an African American there’s not too many shows with people of our culture. This also give (sic) an encouragement that this race is not left out, discriminated on T.V.” (www.pbskids.org, 2003)."- p. 23, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

"Though Penny does confide in her parents from time to time, she usually solves her problems independently or with her friends, but without her parents. Also, The Proud Family does not explicitly encourage children to talk with their parents the way Fat Albert does...If The Proud Family does encourage families to discuss certain issues, then these discussions are tangential, for the cartoon’s main purpose is to entertain its audiences"- p. 57, https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1388&context=gradschool_theses

During the show’s original run, from 2001 to 2005, Penny went through the paces of early adolescence — goofing around with her multicultural crew of friends, pouting about chores, dodging school bullies and testing parental boundaries. While many of the show’s themes were universal, they were delivered in a way that was uniquely and intentionally rooted in Black culture. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/arts/television/proud-family-returns.html

The series, created by Bruce W. Smith, centers around Penny Proud, a 14-year-old African-American girl, and her family. The series was popular because it was one of the few animated series at the time that centered around Black characters, and it included important messages about cultural diversity. https://www.insider.com/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-cast-who-stars-2021-9

"...most of the girls of color who act in these shows (as well as the actors who play their family members) tend to conform to white standards of beauty...Kyla Pratt, the voice of protagonist Penny Proud on The Proud Family, voices a character whose skin is much lighter than her own."- p. 24, https://www.proquest.com/docview/305033390?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

She continued to describe the leading Black female characters on those shows: “I really enjoyed Raven. She was always there to help with the problem or an issue. She was always there to help fix something. In one aspect, it was really funny because she was doing crazy things. In another aspect, it's admirable that she's trying to help and she's genuine. I want to be someone like that, someone can rely on me and I can help them if they need something. Her and Penny Proud were curious people and they went out and did things. I've always been the type that wanted to go out and adventure and things like that"- 115, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2240099861?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

Penny, the 14-year-old protagonist, journeys through junior high school, tackling self-discovery, love and relationships, maintaining friendships, cultural differences, politics, and the ashy blue bullies—all topics that kids (and even adults) today can relate to. With her friends Dijonay, Sticky, Zoey, and even her frenemy LaCienega at her side, Penny navigates teenage woes. Aside from the positive depiction of the Black family dynamic, the show brought much-needed representation of a variety of issues to the screen, representation that is still needed 14 years later...There’s continuous empowerment and want for equality for women throughout the series. In the episode ‘She’s Got Game,” Penny joins the boys’ football team after her crush mocks her and insists that girls can’t play. Penny’s dad, Oscar, is very reluctant to the idea, especially the part about his teenage daughter being surrounded by boys. But Zoey, her mother Trudy, and grandmother Suga Mama back Penny 100%. Comments from the football coach and other members of the team show they’re still holding ideals of the 1950s, that women belonged in the kitchen, suggesting Penny go home and bake instead. Penny proves herself in crunch time, when the coach is forced to put her in the game after a slew of injuries plagues the team. Much like Penny, women today are still fighting for equality (specifically in the realm of equal pay). And while Penny encounters stereotyping in high school sports, today’s media climate questions the fairness of trans women competing against cisgender women in sports. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/proud-family-representation-needed-then-210602764.html

Hmm. Penny Proud (song), You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine, Disney Channel Hits: Take 1

trans woman with same name killed in 2015 https://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2205&context=etd https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.14321/qed.3.1.0098.pdf?casa_token=dfEij6aRxsIAAAAA:8PnSymJXKdZ9uyBMboEeODi2-doQghYl0giWG3Z7HSgOTr2KxdQru_ubZnt96gJBohgSjT-BriRLjmMlVvdohfzTjGQPyVkC_A0fLsUUeWd9_4ZsjQ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00064246.2015.1080911?casa_token=9EfiCu-ndToAAAAA:IbPOFUofENWAzphYiSoWxRDcMsVjiJPBcs6nq5nJfTmIDqwVixbcWjBEcaGx9v9yhSnYnhXBY24 https://www.proquest.com/openview/ac0ad941d21f6d7f80657da2bde5ad26/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750 https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=dif

Ahead of the launch of the new Disney+ animated series ‘The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder’, art displays inspired by protagonist Penny Proud and her family will be featured at Downtown Disney District and Disney Springs https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/108169/Disney%20Parks%20Honor%20Black%20History%20With%20%E2%80%98Celebrate%20Soulfully%E2%80%99%20Events%20_%20TravelPulse.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

"Anything intended to represent a human that does not quite look like the world they see is quickly identified as a flaw. For instance, when shown an illustration of Penny Proud from the Proud Family, children regularly ask, “Why is her head square?” and state they do not prefer the image to more realistic ones. They want images that look like what they see around them." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00094056.2020.1766654?casa_token=UoB3_aOacO4AAAAA:_oK0umbCTyVthyjXy9EuXe281O1ahiIV7pITsgHzf98ZP18SNxjQ503-gH2YK6ujXquf-shtmYE

Kyla Pratt reprises her voice role of Penny Proud. "I’m looking forward to fans finally getting what they’ve been asking me for, and for people to be able to travel back in their childhood by just watching something and feeling cozy and feeling the love and feeling represented. I’m excited for all of it," the actress told Cosmopolitan in an interview. https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a35650717/the-proud-family-louder-and-prouder-reboot/

"I'm a cartoon girl at heart. Doesn’t matter that I’m grown; I have no shame for it. But the problem with being an animated TV lover growing up was realizing how little Black representation there is in the genre. Of course, the TV landscape is a bit different now, but in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, there wasn't a mainstream cartoon character whose story really resembled mine as a pre-teen. That was, until The Proud Family premiered on Disney Channel in 2001. The Proud Family showed stories relatively unseen to white audiences—the everyday interactions of Black families—through approachable and lovable animated characters. It revolved around Penny, a 14-year-old Black girl struggling with her responsibilities as an older sister, having a controlling dad, and wanting to be popular at school (all of which are relatable to Black and non-Black pre-teen girls). What helped make this show so remarkable and beloved was the voice behind Penny: actress Kyla Pratt. Though we didn’t see her face on-screen in The Proud Family, Pratt’s influence on Black girlhood is non-debatable. From starring in TV shows and movies like One on One and Eddie Murphy’s Doctor DoLittle, Pratt was the Black girl role model for Millennials and Gen Z-ers alike, even before Raven-Symoné and Zendaya headlined their own shows (That's So Raven premiered two years after Proud Family.) The actress became a mainstay in the pop culture scene for over 20 years and shows no sign of slowing down as she prepares for her latest role: reprising Penny Proud in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder...Kyla Pratt spoke to ELLE.com about the impact of The Proud Family, being a role model for young Black girls, and how important representation is today."- https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a39134344/the-proud-family-kyla-pratt-black-girlhood-interview/

References

[Category:Animated human characters] [Category:Black characters in animation] [Category:Fictional African-American people] [Category:Disney Television Animation characters] [Category:Child characters in animated series] [Category:Female characters in animated series] [Category:Fictional adolescents] [Category:Teenage characters in television] [[Category:Television characters introduced in 2001]