The GM is a player too, and should get to do cool stuff.
Game Masters spend a lot of time building their world. They bring elements of the game that they love and are excited about to the game to share. They like to feel cool. They, just like the other players at the table, have their own motivations about what they would like to explore the table and what they would get the most excited about. Just like you can level up your interactions, player to player at the table, you can level up your player to GM interactions.
Level 1 - don’t be antagonistic
At a certain point, as you are playing with your GM, you may learn their “tells.” When they introduce an NPC in a certain way, you as a player may know they are the secret villain. When they describe a room, you may recognize a puzzle reused from a famous movie or anime. If the puzzle if familiar to you it is tempting to say “Oh, I remember from <media>, they solved this by…” Sometimes the GM might make a puzzle that is really obviously “for you” and can be solved by your class ability and no one else’s. Your natural reaction may be to call this out. When your GM puts a chasm in front of your character with wings, it is tempting to let out a sarcastic “Well what you obviously want is for me to fly across alone…” Even if you don’t actively break character, you may purposely “play dumb” and look for any way to complete the challenge without doing what you, as a player, know to be the way the GM had hoped you would.
In each situation above, you as a player have identified how the GM hoped the scene would play out, and either break the scene to call it out (potentially ruining the surprise for anyone who didn’t catch the reference), or you actively work against what you identified. In either case, you aren’t working with the other players at the table to “succeed”. The GM is a player too, and if you don’t realize that, it is easy to actively thwart your tablemate’s fun.
Level 1 seems small, but catching yourself and just not being antagonistic can make a big difference. It can make a difference for the GM and it can make a difference for the players at the table who didn’t have the same realization/media knowledge as you.
Level 2 - Play along
Once you can catch yourself and notice the GM’s tells without working against them, you have the opportunity to take advantage of the tells in a collaborative way. If your GM has put a really “obvious” puzzle for your character to solve, they probably did want you to notice, and they are giving you the opportunity to take the spotlight. Play along and make a show of it! Try narrating how you solve this obstacle in a fun and “cinematic” way. “Seeing the pit that all her companions would be helpless against, Innocence the half angel barbarian drops her backpack, unfurls her wings, and takes to the sky, carrying a rope to the other side to let her allies climb across.”
Playing along doesn’t take anything away from your character, and it can be a show of good faith to your GM. Now they know that you wont ruin their fun when they present your with something, so in the future they’ll hopefully do the same and not ruin your fun when you set up something that you think is cool. If you feel like you’re being asked to play along too much, that would be a discussion to have outside the game. Not something to make snide remarks about at the table.
Level 3 - Appreciate it
As you play along more and more, you are given the opportunity to see the references and the narrative moments that your GM sets up for what they are: The GM preparing a gift for you, and hoping you like it. The GM is the only player at the table who’s explicit job it is to try and create things for others to consumer at the table. Every week, they come to the table with some amount of a plan, they present it to the players, and silently ask, “Is this good enough?” When you play along, you are responding “yes.”
When you realize this, you begin to see that when your GM reuses a puzzle from a famous movie, they are sharing what they love with you. When they put an obstacle that you can clearly bypass, they paid attention to your character and made custom content just for you. That is something to get excited about. That is something to enjoy. That is something to say “Thank you” for. At level 1, I encouraged you to not say anything when you recognized the reference or the obvious obstacle. At level 3, I encourage you to wait until the scene is over, and then thank the GM, saying you recognized the reference and appreciated it.
When the world is appreciated, it doesn’t fight you as much
Defining your relationship with you GM also defines your character’s relationship with the game world. If you are antagonistic to the GM, you can expect the world to be equally antagonistic to your character. When your character does something that the GM recognizes as a movie reference, but the “relationship” is currently set to try and fight against each other, then suddenly “real” physics will take over from “movie” physics. But when you let the GM have their cool moment, when you appreciate the moments given to you, you’ll find that you get more cool moment yourself as well.
Define the relationship as supportive, and you will likely see yourself supported.