All-time greats of fantasy cinema such as Georges Méliès paved the way for fantasy cinema today. Constantly creators such as Méliès would push the boundaries and create spectacles of film that audiences would flock to see. When comparing a Méliès film to TLTWTW, similarities and differences about ideas and messages can be seen. For example, one aspect of fantasy that has been the same since the fairy-tales is gender. Traditionally in a fantasy story, the men are brave and save the day, and the women are forever in trouble. In Méliès’ Le Voyage Dans la Lun all the men are accomplished scientists who get to travel to the moon, whereas the women are simply there to look good and load the rocket. However, in TLTWTW, Peter and Edmund are seen to be fighting against their sisters Susan and Lucy. This is a twist on the classic gender roles in fantasy, which is symbolic of a change of time and attitude in the real world, as fantasy represents the communities and characters of the time it was made. In an article about both the books and films of Narnia, Revisiting Narnia, Caughey addresses the idea that films act as a portal that transports us to other worlds beyond our imagination, much like the wardrobe in Narnia. His idea speaks to not only me but masses of people. Nothing is more immersive and more fulfilling than watching a film in the cinema. As a simple idea sitting in a dark room with strangers seems totally undesirable. I think that’s where Caughey is coming from, that it is what is on the screen that takes us out of reality, our own little window into the fantastic. I believe this is why fantasy films are still and will continue to be made not only in Britain, but all over the world. Because they are an escape, they represent communities and characters symbolically, allowing people to understand the message without being told, as well as being transported to another world beyond comprehension, through the eyes of the director.

In conclusion, both A Matter of Life and Death and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe are both classic British fantasy films. However, their approach to presenting communities and characters within the films is quite different. A Matter of Life and Death presents a patriotic, friendly and happy post-war British community whereas TLTWTW presents a broken and war shattered community that need to escape reality into another world. Petley writes about Professor Charles Barr’s point that explains the need for fantasy in British cinema;