Viral photo of 2-year-old watching ‘Encanto’ is the perfect example of why representation matters

Disney's 'Encanto' is a landmark in film representation.
As the old saying goes, “If you can see it, you can be it,” but unfortunately, many children don’t see themselves adequately represented in the media. This subconsciously limits their perceptions of who they can be and what they can achieve in the world.
A mother, Kaheisha Brand, uploaded a photo of her 2-year-old son Kenzo to Instagram last month and it was the perfect example of the joy a child experiences when being able to see themselves as part of the story.
Kenzo was watching Disney’s new animated film, “Encanto,” and seemed to notice that he looked a lot like Antonio, one of the characters in the film. “Encanto” is a musical adventure that tells the story of a family that lives in the mountains of Colombia.
Kaheisha took the photo because she found it was powerful to see people of color represented in ways she hadn’t experienced as a child. "It means the world to me, again, I didn't have the same experience growing up," she told Good Morning America. "I do believe there is power in representation and it does empower young black and brown children."
“It made me feel emotional to know that my son was able to see this and have that experience," his father, Keith Brooks, added.
Let's hope that Kenzo dresses up like Antonio for Halloween this year and his mother posts it to her Instagram account. That would be a wonderful sight to see.
- Disney World Will Stop Photoshopping Masks on Customer's Faces ›
- Mom captures powerful moment her 2-yr-old son thought Disney's ... ›
- A Man Proposed to His Girlfriend by 'Hacking' Her Favorite Disney ... ›
- Watch Encanto's 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' in 21 languages ›
- 'Encanto' gets celestial in this wacky 'We Don't Talk About Pluto' parody - Upworthy ›
- John Hughs '16 Candles' reboot to star Latinas - Upworthy ›
- John Hughs '16 Candles' reboot to star Latinas - Upworthy ›
- Kids react to seeing a Black Little Mermaid in Disney trailer - Upworthy ›
- Kids react to seeing a Black Little Mermaid in Disney trailer - Upworthy ›
- Stephanie Beatriz sings 'The Family Madrigal' from 'Encanto' - Upworthy ›
- Fisher-Price creates new toy to look like a young customer - Upworthy ›
Men try to read the most disturbing comments women get online back to them.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't type it.
This isn’t comfortable to talk about.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault and violence.
in 2016, a video by Just Not Sports took two prominent female sportswriters and had regular guys* read the awful abuse they receive online aloud.
Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro sat by as men read some of the most vile tweets they receive on a daily basis. See how long you can last watching it.
*(Note: The men reading them did not write these comments; they're just being helpful volunteers to prove a point.)
It starts out kind of jokey but eventually devolves into messages like this:
Awful.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
These types of messages come in response to one thing: The women were doing their jobs.
Those wishes that DiCaro would die by hockey stick and get raped? Those were the result of her simply reporting on the National Hockey League's most disturbing ordeal: the Patrick Kane rape case, in which one of the league's top players was accused of rape.
DiCaro wasn't writing opinion pieces. She was simply reporting things like what the police said, statements from lawyers, and just general everyday work reporters do. In response, she received a deluge of death threats. Her male colleagues didn't receive nearly the same amount of abuse.
It got to the point where she and her employer thought it best for her to stay home for a day or two for her own physical safety.
The men in the video seemed absolutely shocked that real live human beings would attack someone simply for doing their job.
Not saying it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Most found themselves speechless or, at very least, struggling to read the words being presented.
It evoked shame and sympathy.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Think this is all just anecdotal? There's evidence to the contrary.
The Guardian did a study to find out how bad this problem really is. They combed through more than 70 million comments that have been posted on their site since 2006 and counted the number of comments that violated their comment policy and were blocked.
The stats were staggering.
From their comprehensive and disturbing article:
If you can’t say it to their face... don’t type it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
So, what can people do about this kind of harassment once they know it exists?
There are no easy answers. But the more people who know this behavior exists, the more people there will be to tell others it's not OK to talk to anyone like that.
Watch the whole video below:
.This article originally appeared nine years ago.