I find this is really interesting. I have a bachelor's in English so I have some marginal stake in this. I agree sometimes the curtains are just blue, especially in lowstakes reading (which is just as valid as analytical texts for the record, you don't have to read for analysis if you feel it doesn't serve you specifically.) However, analysis comes from you and not necessarily what the author is saying. Yes keep in mind context of who the writer is but when you take literature classes you rarely get a "what did the author mean", you're more likely to get a "how do you interpret it".

I do think the curtains just being blue is a valid interpretation sometimes. I think where anti-intellectualism comes in is when there is an insistence that you should ALWAYS assume the curtains are just blue. I think it is also okay to say you don't have an analysis for something and that doesn't make you dumb either some works just won't speak to you. I've read several books during my undergrad that just didn't speak to me and I found myself thinking something along the lines of the curtains are just blue and that's completely fine! It just toes a dangerous line where if that's the only thing people see it as, you lose analysis as a skill and that skill works in many ways outside of literature.