#teachers are so hung up on teaching apparent depth that they strangle the story's nuance

[arbitrarygreay]

There is a difference between "it's not that deep" and "it's not that nuanced". When we say "it's not that deep", it generally means that the level of symbolism is not nearly as important as others may suggest. That the text can be interpreted without substituting what they appear to be on the surface. Something that isn't deep can still be complex in its nuance, because real life is complex and nuanced! A story with zero depth (mere depiction of events, curtains are blue because I rolled a 6 on the die) can be an endlessly faceted demonstration of the world! Conversely, you can tell a story that is deep like the underwater portion of an iceberg, and it will lack nuance entirely. Satire whose referents have been somewhat lost to time can be like this. What each element of the story represents can be deep like an obscure album cut, but the story itself can still be basic as all get-out, "X bad Y good" stuff.