I agree with the idea of a person's perception on the subject.I guess we really should be talking about if you should have your arm locked or not. WhenI look at my arm it does not look bent but it is very, very slightly so that the elbow is relaxed.

Side note: Your grip is a lot different too which makes a big difference.My oldgrip was like your bottompic and my new one is like your top. If you try to bend your arm too much with your top grip the arm wants to kick out. Grip has a lot to do with if a person bends the arm more or not to keep from getting wacked by the string.