In a 12.14 interview with Jezebel’s “Irin,” N.Y. Times critic Manohla Dargis riffs on Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow and what she calls the hateful “bullshit” pedigree of the Oscars. I love this interview! Magnificent salty slams from a senior representative of the Gray Lady!

“Something like a woman winning best director for directing an action movie and not a romantic comedy is symbolically important,” she says. “Whether it then leads to a lot of women doing things outside of the pathetic comfort zone of romantic comedy — and I say that as someone who loves romantic comedy — we’ll see.

“We know that because women are allowed to make romantic comedies that they can make romantic comedies. That’s in everyone’s comfort zone. The idea that a woman can be a great action director is not in everyone’s comfort zone. That’s [Bigelow’s] exceptionalism.

“The only thing Hollywood is interested in money, and after that prestige. That’s why they’ll be interested in something like The Hurt Locker. She’s done so well critically that she can’t be ignored.

“But let’s acknowledge that the Oscars are bullshit and we hate them. But they are important commercially…I’ve learned to never underestimate the academy’s bad taste. Crash as best picture? What the fuck.”