Media stars and starlets are often role models for today's youth. The book vividly and thoroughly illustrates the actual role these popular figures play in the daily lives of their fans. Against the backdrop of a model of media relationships, a complex methodological design was used to investigate who the idols of young people are, what significance they attribute to these media figures, what forms of interaction and appropriation they develop towards them, and what benefits young fans derive from these media relationships. Detailed interviews with fans aged 13 to 18 demonstrate that engagement with various media figures can indeed contribute constructively to self-education in terms of a sense of identity or identity construction.