Steven Spielberg tells Harvard grads: Be a real-life movie hero

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In a world full of villains, Harvard University graduates must become the heroes, filmmaker Steven Spielberg told the 2016 class during a commencement address Thursday.

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Spielberg invoked stories from his films and his life as he encouraged the graduates to take on the world's woes.

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"A hero needs a villain to vanquish, and you're all in luck," he said. "This world is full of monsters. There's racism, homophobia, ethnic hatred, class hatred. There's political hatred and there's religious hatred."

The answer, he told graduates, is to question voices of authority, to seek "defining character moments" in their own lives and to learn from the past.