What is visible in the frame
A man in glasses wearing a hooded jacket, black on top and red below, with The North Face logo on the chest, stands on a flat sandy plain and speaks to the camera. Low mountains stretch behind him, and in the distance white cars and tents are visible. On the right, in the background, a small figure in dark blue clothing is speeding along: the body leaning forward, arms thrown back, one leg lifted high.
At the bottom of the screen is the channel's lower-third graphic: a LIVE tag, the “Area 51 Mania” logo, the headline “Getting ready for Alienstock” and the subheadline “Final preparations underway in Rachel,” and the 13 Action News logo on the right. The event is happening live, the reporter is serious, and behind him a comedy unfolds.
What the Naruto run is
In the anime and manga Naruto, ninjas move in a characteristic way: the body almost parallel to the ground, arms stretched back to reduce air resistance. In the series it looks like a swift maneuver, but in ordinary life it looks like a ridiculous pose, which is why among fans this run has long been a joke.
The runner in the frame repeats exactly this manner, and it's funnier that the place wasn't chosen by chance. Among the jokes about the “storming” there was an idea that the Naruto run would let people outrun the guards' bullets, and reportedly this idea also appeared in the description of the event itself.
September 2019: The “Storming” of Area 51
The backdrop of the story is a joke event on Facebook, “Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us,” organized by Matty Roberts and Brock Daly. Participants expressed a desire to show up by the millions, although most people perceived it as a prank. The date given was September 20, 2019, and the location was the vicinity of the military base in the Nevada desert. Lincoln County officials were concerned about the strain on infrastructure, and the U.S. Air Force warned that people should not come onto the range.
Contrary to the alarming forecasts, there was no storming: those gathered behaved peacefully, came with joking signs and costumes. Meanwhile, TV channels ran live reports from the desert, and in one of them, according to a local TV station, reporter Joe Bartels ended up in the same shot as the runner.
How the video spread
The clip with the “Naruto run” went viral: people shared it as the main episode of the whole event. Later the runner himself got in touch with the TV channel and explained that he had come from California and was simply practicing the Naruto run. The version that “it was arranged in advance” is not confirmed in the sources; it remains a guess by viewers.
The frame began to be cut out of its context, pasted into photos of other people's events, and used as a background for drawn pictures and video edits. The combination of serious news, the desert, and a ridiculous run works well, so the meme lived not only within the UFO theme.
Caption examples
“Me when I heard they're opening a cake in the kitchen” — the run is perceived as a reaction to joyful news.
“My salary on the day all the bills have to be paid” — the character runs away from the event while the reporter calmly describes the preparations.
“A student five minutes before the dean's office closes” — a person's haste against the backdrop of the serious, dull “official” part.
In all versions the contrast works: one person is busy with something serious, the second ridiculously rushes past, and the caption gives us the role of the runner.
